C/.     0%^^ 


THE    LIFE 


OF 


HON.  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN, 

GOVERNOR  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK; 


WITH 


A  SKETCH   OF  THE   LIFE 


OF 


HON.  THOMAS  ANDREWS  HENDRICKS, 

GOVERNOR  OF  THE  STATE  OF  INDIANA. 


BY 

WILLIAM  MASON  CORNELL,  LL.D. 

AUTHOR  OF  "HISTORY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA,"  "LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY,' 
"MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER,"  ETC.,  ETC. 


BOSTON  : 

LEE      &     SHEPARD. 

1876. 


TSC 


COPYRIGHT,  BY 

WILLIAM  MASON  CORNELL,  LL.D. 
1876. 


TO  ALL 


AMERICAN    CITIZENS 


WHO    BELIEVE   IN 


THE   PURITY  AND   HONESTY  OF   OUR  PUBLIC   SERVANTS, 


AND  THAT  THEY  SHOULD   BE 


CLEAN   FROM   EVERY   TAINT   OF   CORRUPTION 


THIS   RECORD  OF 


THE     GREAT     REFORMER 


IS    DEDICATED. 


M70538 


PEEFAOE. 


LONG  prefaces  are  seldom  read ;  and  the  author  of  the  N 
following  pages  presents  a  short  one.  He  wishes  it  to  be 
distinctly  understood  at  the  outset,  that,  in  writing  the  Life 
of  Samuel  Jones  Tilden  and  of  Thomas  Andrews  Hendricks, 
he  has  nothing  to  say  that  will  or  can  possibly  be  construed 
to  the  disparagement  of  the  personal  character  and  integrity 
of  Gov.  Hayes  or  of  Congressman  Wheeler,  the  candi 
dates  of  the  Republican  party  for  President  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent  of  the  United  States.  He  has  formerly  written  the  x 
Lives  of  Robert  Raikes,  of  Horace  Greeley,  and  a  Memoir  !. 
of  Charles  Sumner ;  and  in  none  of  them  did  he  find  cause 
for  assailing  any  other  gentleman.  In  a  recent  History 
of  Pennsylvania,  former  historians  were  not  impugned,  but 
gratitude  was  expressed  for  what  they  had  done.  Provi-  N 
dentially,  in  the  lives  of  the  gentlemen  portrayed  in  this 
volume,  there  is  sufficient  of  uprightness,  integrity,  intellect, 
and  good  service  rendered  to  their  fellow-citizens,  to  place 
them  on  an  eminence  above  reproach,  and  worthy  of  imita 
tion  ;  and  the  author  considers  himself  fortunate  in  having 
to  set  forth  men  of  such  honorable  and  praiseworthy 
characters. 

It  is  always  mean  to  besmirch  a  worthy  man  because  he  is 

5 


6  PREFACE. 

not  of  our  party  in  politics,  or  of  our  sect  in  religion  ;  and 
the  "  violent  dealing"  of  such  as  do  this,  in  the  language 
of  Israel's  king,  generally  "comes  down  upon  their  own 
pate."  Hence  I  was  pleased  to  read  in  "The Boston  Daily 
Advertiser,"  the  morning  after  Gov.  Tilden's  nomination, 
"  Republicans  will  be  ready  to  concede  that  in  a  personal 
sense  no  better  selection  could  have  been  made;"  and, 
further,  ' '  He  [Tilden]  has  done  good  work  as  a  reformer, 
and  he  is  entitled  to  all  the  credit  of  it."  This  is  creditable, 
and  more  than  was  to  have  been  expected  from  such  a  parti 
san  paper,  while  the  great  evil  of  our  day  is  to  disparage 
men  who  are  not  of  our  party.  The  reader  of  these  pages 
will  look  in  vain  for  any  thing  of  this  kind  in  this  volume. 

W.  M.  C. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   ANCESTRY  OF   GOV.   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

PAGE. 

Any  Man  may  "be  President.  —  This  Country  long  concealed.  — 
Settled  by  the  Best  Men.  —  "The  Mayflower."  —  The  Ancestors 
of  Gov.  Tilden.  —  Related  to  Cromwell.  —The  First  Tildeu  set 
tled  in  Scituate,  Mass.  —  Tildens  still  there.  —  The  Democratic 
Contract  in  "  The  Mayflower  " 15 

CHAPTER  II. 

BIRTH  AND   EDUCATION   OF   GOV.   TILDEN. 

Columbia  County.  —  The  Chemists,  the  Governor's  Brothers.  — 
Anecdote  of  the  Quaker  Druggist.  —  The  Governor's  Father  a 
thorough  Democrat.  —  The  Anti-Masonic  Excitement.  —  Young 
Tilden's  Article.  —  Mr.  Van  Buren  denies  its  Paternity.  — 
Samuel  enters  Yale  College.  —The  Class.  —  Leaves  on  Account 
of  his  Health.  —  Graduates  at  the  New  York  University.  — 
Studies  Law.  —  Opens  an  Office.  —  Is  fairly  in  the  Legal  Pro 
fession  20 

CHAPTER  III. 

POLITICAL   PARTIES. 

Quotation  from  Dr.  Capen's  Book.  — From  Dr.  Young  and  Pope.  — 
Early  Origin  of  Parties  in  our  Country.  —  Federalists,  Repub 
licans,  "Whigs,  and  Democrats.  —  Thomas  Jefferson.  — Political 
Lying.  —  John  Quincy  Adams.  —  Andrew  Jackson.  —  Anec 
dote  of  Harrison  and  John  Tyler.  —  Fame  of  Gen.  Jackson 
growing  brighter.  —  Many  Times  the  Country  has  been  lost 

7 


8  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

and  saved.  —  Deacon's  Prayer.  —  Rev.  Mr.  Burnham  of  Ne\v 
Hampshire.  —  The  coming  Election.  —  A  Warm  Canvass.  — 
Mr.  Tilden's  Experience 25 

CHAPTER  IY. 

POLITICAL    LABORS    OF    SAMUEL   J.    TILDEN. 

Choice  of  a  Profession.  —  What  is  expected  of  a  Professional  Man. 
—Waiting  in  a  Profession.  —  Mr.  Tilden's  Political  Papers.— 
His  Speech  answering  Nathaniel  P.  Tallmadge.  — He  becomes 
an  Editor.  — Leaves  the  Editorship,  and  becomes  a  Member  of 
the  Assembly.  —  His  Prominence  in  that  Body.  —  Is  elected  a 
Member  of  the  Convention  to  remodel  the  Constitution  of  the 
State  of  New  York.  — Becomes  conspicuous  in  that  Body  .  35 

CHAPTER  V. 

MR.    TILDEN   AS    A    LAWYER. 

Further  Success  as  a  Politician  by  Mr.  Tilden.  —  Takes  the  Palui 
from  Senator  Tallmadge.  —  He  feels  the  Need  of  Money.  — 
Contrast  between  the  Professions  of  Lawyers,  Doctors,  and 
Ministers.  —  A  Hermit.  —  Mr.  Tilden  knew  his  Power  as  a 
Lawyer.  —  Defeat  of  Silas  Wright,  and  Political  Changes, 
proved  favorable  to  him. — He  soon  becomes  eminent  as  an 
Attorney.  —  How  he  managed  the  Case  of  Mr.  Flagg.  —  Mr. 
Tilden  starts  a  Newspaper.  —  He  is  chosen  a  Member  of  the 
Assembly.  —  His  Work  there.  —  He  is  elected  a  Member  of  the 
Convention  to  remodel  the  Constitution.  —  His  Management 
of  the  Canal  Case. — Dr.  Burdell's  Case.  —  Case  of  Delaware 
and  Hudson  Company  against  the  Philadelphia  Coal  Company. 
—  The  Cumberland  Coal  Company 41 

CHAPTER  VI. 

MR.    TILDEN    AS    A    REFORMER. 

Mr.  Tilden  as  an  Honorable  Man.  —  Luther  a  Reformer.  —  Anec 
dote  of  Alexander  Pope.  — Aristocratic  Gathering  at  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Hotel. —Robert  Collyer's  Boat.  —Mr.  Bristow.  —  The 
New  York  Ring. — A  Whip-Row.  —  Progress  of  the  Ring. — 
Their  vast  Plunder.  —  Mr.  Tilden's  Plan  for  capturing  the 
Ring. — Mr.  Tilden  again  in  the  Legislature. — Nominated  for 
and  elected  Governor.  — His  first  Message. — His  Objects:  first, 
Reform;  second,  his  Financial  Policy.  — Description  of  his  Per 
son.  —  What  he  achieved  .  57 


CONTENTS.  9 

CHAPTER  VH. 
GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  DEFENCE. 

PAGE. 

Accusers  brought  to  face  Each  Other.  —  Mr.  TilcTen's  own  State 
ment. —  He.  is  not  responsible  for  the  Controversy  with  the 
" Times"  Newspaper. — The  Committee  of  the  Bar  Associa 
tion. —He  did  not  withhold  Credit  from  "The  Times."  — Mr. 
Tilden's  relations  to  Mayor  Havemeyer.  —  His  Speecli  at  the 
Cooper  Institute. — The  Occasion  of  the  Exposition.  —  Quota 
tions  from  "The  Times."  —  Mr.  Tildeu's  Description  of  the 
Origin  of  the  Ring.  —  Its  Harmony  with  the  Account  given  by 
Others.  — The  Period  of  the  King- Power.  — Formative  Period. 
—  Mr.  Tilden  assumes  the  Lead  of  the  Democratic  State  Organi 
zation.  —  His  Speech  in  the  Circuit  Court 72 

CHAPTER  VIII. 


FURTHER    CONFIRMS    THAT    OF    THE    HISTORIAN. 

Contest  of  1870.  —The  Sham.  —Opposition.  —  The  Conflict.  —  The 
Eeal  Nature  of  the  Law.  —  Illustration.  —  The  Means.  —  Who 
betrayed  the  City.  —  Immediate  Consequences. — The  Summer 
of  1870. —Court  of  Appeals. —Winter  of  1871.  — School  Sys 
tem. —  Code  Amendments. — Contest  of  1871. — Strong  Posi 
tion  of  the  Pang  in  the  City. —  Mr.  Tilden's  Speech  at  the 
Cooper  Institute  in  1871.  —  Crisis  of  the  Contest.  —  Pivot  of  the 
Contest.  —  Eing  Plan  of  the  Campaign.  —Mr.  Tilden's  Plan  of 
the  Campaign. — How  to  overthrow  the  Eing  in  the  Popular 
Vote  of  the  City. —The  Time  when  Mr.  Tilden  acted. —Mr. 
Kernan.  —  Mr.  Oswald  Ottendorfer.  —  Mr.  O'Conor.  —  Other 
Preparations.  —  Substitution  of  Mr.  Green  for  Mr.  Connolly  in 
the  Comptrollership.  —  Efforts  of  the  Eing  to  recover  Posses 
sion. —  State  Convention. — Other  Action.  —  Broadway  Bank 
Investigations. — Mr.  Tildeu's  Speech  at  Cooper  Institute. — 
Democratic  Eef orm  Vote  in  the  City.  —  Further  Collection  of 
Proofs.  —  Judicial  Eeforui.  —  Conclusion.  —  Eemarks  by  the 
Compiler 93 

CHAPTER  IX. 


OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Gov.  Tilden  believed  that  Slavery  was  guaranteed  by  the  Consti 
tution.  —  Both  Garrison  and  Phillips  believed  this.  —  Charles 
Suniner  differed  from  them.  —  Mr.  Tildeii  endeavored  to  avert 


10  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

the  War.  —  When  it  came,  he  said  Pros.  Lincoln  should  have 
called  out  Five  Hundred  Thousand  Men.  —  This  was  the  Opin 
ion  of  Many  Others  also.  —  Mr.  Tilden  believed  that  the  War 
should  have  been  conducted  upon  Sound  Financial  Principles. 
—  Many  supposed  Secretary  Chase's  Plan  for  raising  Money  a 
bad  one. — Secretary  Se ward's  Prediction  that  the  War  would 
end  in  Ninety  Days.  —  Mr.  Tilden's  Record  as  Governor. — 
Quotation  from  Senator  Kemaii's  Speech.  —  The  Democrats 
contend  that  Mr.  Tilden,  placed  in  the  White  House,  would 
reduce  the  National  Expenses  One  Half  ....  149 

CHAPTER  X. 

TWO    GREAT    MEN'S    OPINIONS    OF    MR.    TILDEN. 

The  Work  done  at  St.  Louis.  —  Do  the  Circumstances  of  the  Coun 
try  demand  a  Change?  —  Mr.  Curtis's  Knowledge  of  Mr.  Til- 
den.  —  If  Mr.  Tilden  is  elected,  it  will  be  because  the  People 
demand  it.  — The  Republican  Party  cannot  rescue  the  Country 
from  its  Present  Financial  Condition.  —  The  Kind  of  Man 
wanted.  — Mr.  Curtis's  Views  of  the  Change  for  the  Worse  in 
the  Wharves  and  Docks  of  New  York.  —  Where  the  Larger 
Share  of  Blame  for  the  War  belongs.  —  What  the  Republican 
Party  has  to  boast  of.  —  What  has  the  Republican  Party  done 
towards  resuming  Specie  Payments?  — Selections  from  Parke 
Godwin's  Letter.  —  His  Personal  Acquaintance  with  Mr.  Til 
den.  —  His  Rank  as  a  Statesman.  —  His  Administration  as 
Governor  of  New  York.  —  Gov.  Tilden's  Work  in  overthrowing 
the  Tweed  Ring.  —  Mr.  Godwin's  Advice  to  his  Late  Colleagues 
of  the  Conference  in  New  York  .......  1GO 


THOMAS   ANDREWS   HENDRICKS. 
CHAPTER  XI. 

SKETCH    OF    THE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF    THOMAS 
ANDREWS    HENDRICKS. 

Birthplace  of  Gov.  Hendricks. — Education.  — Graduates  at  Hano 
ver  College.  —  Studies  Law  in  Pennsylvania.  —  Settles  in 
Indianapolis.  —  Is  chosen  to  the  State  Legislature.  —  Also  to 
the  State  Convention.  -^  Is  elected  a  Member  of  Congress.  — 
Also  Senator.  ~-  Returns  to  the  Practice  of  Law.  —  Is  Chosen 
Governor.  —  His  Views  on  the  Finances.  —  A  Hard-Money 
Man. — Description  of  his  Person. — He  is  married,  but  has 
no  Children  .  183 


CONTENTS.  11 


CHAPTER  XII. 

SPEECH   OF    HON.  THOMAS   A.  HENDRICKS    AT    ZANESVILLE, 
O.,   SEPT.   3,  1875. 

PAGE. 

.Reference  to  Gov.  Allen.  —  Gov.  Hendricks  on  the  Republican 
Financial  Policy.  —  Specie  Payments.  —  Republican  Obstruc 
tions  to  Resumption  of  Specie  Payments.  —  Extravagant  Ex 
penditures.  —  Vices  in  the  Public  Service.  —  District  of  Colum 
bia.  —  Change  the  only  Remedy  .  .  .  .  .  196 

CHAPTER  XIH. 

THE   DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION,  AND   ITS  WORK. 

The  Convention  opened. — Permanent  Organization. — The  Plat 
form.  —  Nominations.  —  Mr.  Tilden  nominated  by  Senator 
Kern  an.  — His  Address  and  Resolution.  — Mr.  Hendricks  nomi 
nated  by  Mr.  Williams.  —  His  Speech. — Mr.  Fuller's  Speech. 

—  Mr.  Campbell's  Speech.  —  Samuel  Jones  Tilden  the  Nominee 
for  President.  —  Thomas  Andrews  Hendricks  nominated  for 
Vice-President    . .        .        .225 

CHAPTER  XIY. 

WHAT   FOLLOWED.  THE   NOMINATIONS. 

General  Enthusiasm. — Despatches  to  Gov.  Tilden.  —  How  he  re 
ceived  the  News.  —  His  Remarks.  — A  Serenade.  — Opinion  of 
Hon.  Charles  Francis  Adams.  —  Opinion  of  Hon.  Charles  G. 
Davis.  —  Opinion  of  Hon.  Charles  Levi  Woodbury.  —  Of  Hon. 
Edward  Avery.  —  How  the  News  was  received  in  New  York. 

—  "The  New  York  Times."  — "The  Sun."  —  "  Chicago  Trib 
une." — Enthusiasm  at  Concord,   N.  H.  —  At   Biddeford,   Me. 

—  Gov.    Tilden's   AVard    in    New  York. — The  Committee  to 
announce  to  Gov.  Tildcu  the  nomination  perform  that  Duty.  — 
Gov.  Tilden's  Reply  to  the  Committee.  —  Selections  from  the 
Speech  of  Senator  Bayard.  —  Delegates  call  on  Gov.  Hendricks.    248 

—  His  Address  to  them. 

CHAPTER  XV. 
MR.  TILDEN'S  AND  MR.  HENDRICK'S  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

Gov.  Tilden  indorses  the  St.  Louis  Platform.  —Reform  in  Public 
Expense.  —  How  to  accomplish  it.  —  The  Condition  of  the 


12  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

South.  —  How  to  improve  it.  — Currency  Reform.  —  Bank-note 
Resumption.  —  Legal-tender  Resumption.  —  Necessary  Cur 
rency. —  Proper  Time  of  Resumption. — Preparation  for  it. — 
Plan  for  Resumption.  — Relief  to  Business  Men.  —  Civil-Service 
Reform.  — What  he  purposes  to  do  if  elected  to  the  Presidency.  274 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE   PRESS    ON   THE    LETTERS    OF   ACCEPTANCE    OF   MESSRS. 
TILDEN   AND    IIENDRICKS. 

New  York  Express.  —  Brooklyn  Eagle.  —  St.  Louis  Republican.  — 
Philadelphia  Times.  —  Albany  Argus.  —  Eagle  again.  —  Boston 
Sunday  Times.  —  Courier.  —  Traveller.  —  New  York  Times.  — 
New  York  Herald.  —  Saturday  Evening  Express.  —  New  Haven 
Register.  —  Springfield  Republican.  —  Baltimore  Gazette.  — 
Chicago  Times.  —  Cincinnati  Enquirer.  —  Ne\v  York  Journal  of 
Commerce.  —  Detroit  Free  Press.  — Portland  Argus.  —  Bangor 
Commercial.  —  Manchester  Union.  303 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

MR.   TILDEN   ON  A  NATIONAL    BANK   IN  1840. — HIS    MESSAGE 
IN  1875. 

Causes  of  Fluctuation  in  Prices.  —  Previous  Crises  and  Failures. — 
United  States  Bank  and  Expansion  of  Currency  the  Causes.  — 
From  Mr.  Tilden's  Speech  in  18G8.  —Conclusion.  321 


IHTBODUCTKOT. 


As  by  history  we  are  informed  what  mankind  have 
been  and  done  in  past  ages,  the  character  of  the  best 
and  worst  men  in  every  age,  and  how  nations,  empires, 
and  kingdoms  have  arisen,  flourished,  decayed,  and 
passed  away,  so  by  biography  we  see  the  benefit  which 
great  and  good  men  have  conferred  on  mankind. 
Indeed,  no  class  of  writings  has  had  such  vast  influ 
ence  in  forming  the  character  of  the  young,  either  for 
weal  or  woe,  as  these.  Conquerors  have  been  made  by 
reading  the  lives  of  conquerors  that  have  preceded 
them  ;  heroes,  by  reading  of  heroes ;  and  martyrs,  cler 
gymen,  eminent  business  men,  and  persons  in  all  pro 
fessions,  have  been  inspired  with  that  supreme  devotion 
and  energy  to  an  object,  that  has  enabled  them  to  over 
come  all  obstacles,  aad  achieve  the  same  or  even  more 
than  those  after  who.ni  they  patterned. 

The  Creator,  the  fountain  of  all  good,  seems  to  have 
acted  upon  this  principle  in  giving  us  the  Bible,  in 
which  he  has  set  before  us,  for  our  imitation,  the  char 
acters  of  Abraham,  Moses,  David,  Daniel,  and  many 
other  holy  men,  among  the  Old  Testament  worthies  ,• 

13 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

and  we  know,  indeed,  from  the  New  Testament,  that 
the  grand  object  had  in  view  by  the  Holy  One  in 
portraying  their  characters  was  for  our  imitation. 
Hence  we  are  expressly  told,  "  Whatsoever  things  were 
written  aforetime  were  written  for  our  learning,  that 
we  through  patience  and  comfort  of  the  Scriptures 
might  have  hope  ; "  hence  the  writer  to  the  Hebrews 
brings  before  us  that  host  of  worthies,  till  the  number 
seems  to  swell  beyond  his  powers  of  description,  and 
he  exclaims,  "  And  what  shall  I  more  say?  for  the  time 
would  fail."  All  these  were  named,  with  their  heroic 
deeds,  for  what  ?  "  Seeing  we  also  are  compassed  about 
by  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let  us  also  run  with 
patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  us : "  in  other  words, 
seeing,  knowing  what  others  have  done,  taking  them 
as  our  examples,  let  us  discharge  our  duty,  as  they  did ; 
"  let  us  press  towards  the  mark  for  our  high  calling." 
Deeply  imbued  with  this  principle  of  rising,  of  coming 
up  to  the  highest  round  on  the  ladder  of  human  per 
fectibility,  Dr.  Young  said,  — 

"  All  can  do  what  has  by  man  been  done." 

Having  stated  these  general  benefits  to  the  world, 
from  the  biography  of  men  who  have  rendered  good 
service  to  their  country,  we  are  now  prepared  to  speak 
of  the  gentlemen  nominated  at  the  St.  Louis  Conven 
tion ;  namely,  Samuel  Jones  Til  den  for  President,  and 
Thomas  Andrews  Hendricks  for  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States. 


LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN, 


CHAPTER  L 

THE  ANCESTRY  OF   GOV.    SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 


Any  Man  may  be  President.  —  This  Country  long  Concealed.  — • 
Settled  by  the  Best  Men.  —  The  Mayflower.  —  The  Ancestors  of 
Gov.  Tilden.  —  Eelated  to  Cromwell.  —  The  First  Tilden  settled  in 
Scituate,  Mass.  —  Tildens  still  there.  —  The  Democratic  Contract 
in  "  The  Mayflower." 

WHILE   we   firmly   believe    with   Alexander    Pope, 

that  — 

"  Honor  and  shame  from  no  condition  rise. 

Act  well  your  part  :  there  all  the  honor  lies,"  — 

nevertheless  a  noble  and  worthy  ancestry  is  by  no 
means  to  be  forgotten  or  despised.  True,  we  have  no 
monarchial  descent  or  house  of  lords  in  our  Republic ; 
and  while  we  glory  in  the  fact  that  the  son  of  one  of 
our  poorest  and  most  secluded  citizens  may  become 
the  president  of  this  great  nation,  —  or  the  boy 
upon  a  "  flat-boat,"  as  Abraham  Lincoln  did,  —  still  a 
descent  from  worthy  and  honorable  parentage  through 

15 


16  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES    TILDEN. 

many  generations  is  not  to  be  despised,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  to  be  held  up  as  worthy  of  imitation  and 
"  to  the  praise  of  those  who  have  done  well." 

When  it  is  considered  that  God  concealed  this  vast 
country,  stre telling  from  the  North  to  the  South  Polo 
and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  from  all 
the  nations  of  the  Eastern  world  for  ages,  and  that  he 
then  sifted  all  the  nations  of  the  Old  World  for  the 
choicest  of  the  whea.t  with  which  to  sow  it,  the  best 
-tnoil /writ!}: *  w^ii^h  'to'  people  it,  who  does  not  see  the 
hand  of.  the  Almighty  Ruler  in  this  grand  event  ? 

Nations  had  arisen,  arrived  to  maturity,  and  passed 
away  ;  mighty  conquerors  had  shaken  the  earth :  and 
yet  this  Western  Continent  remained  unexplored, 
uninhabited  save  only  by  — 

"  The  poor  Indian,  whose  untutored  mind 
Sees  God  in  clouds,  or  hears  him  in  the  wind,"  — 

till  that  little  ship,  "  The  Mayflower,"  landed  upon  the 
barren  and  rocky  coast  of  Massachusetts,  with  her 
precious  freight.  Though  no  one  by  the  name  of 
Tilden  came  in  that  vessel,  yet  Joseph  Tilden  of  Ten- 
terden,  County  of  Kent,  England,  was  one  of  the 
"  merchant  princes  "  who  fitted  out  that  fine  vessel 
that  brought  the  Pilgrims  to  New  England  ;  and,  from 
the  same  county  in  England,  Nathaniel  Tilden,  a 
brother  of  Joseph  just  named,  came  over  in  the  "  good 
shippe,  Ann,"  as  early  as  1634,  and  settled  in  Scituate 
in  Massachusetts ;  and  in  this  town  many  boys  have 


ANCESTRY  OF   GOV.   SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN.        17 

since  had  the  Christian  name  of  Tilden  as  an  honor. 
This  same  Nathaniel  Tilden  was  an  ancestor  of  Samuel 
Jones  Tilden;  and,  what  is  more,  he  (the  governor) 
descended  as  in  a  royal  line  from  the  stanchest 
Puritan  blood  of  Old  England.  Nathaniel  Tilden  by 
marriage  was  nearly  related  to  Gov.  Winslow,  as  one 
of  the  governor's  brothers  married  a  sister  of  Hannah 
Bourne,  who  was  the  wife  of  Nathaniel  Tilden.  Fur 
ther  still,  another  sister  was  married  to  a  son  of  Gov. 
Bradford,  thus  still  in  the  line  of  governors.  John 
Tilden,  grandfather  of  Gov.  Tilden,  settled  in  Col 
umbia  County,  New  York.  The  governor's  mother 
was  a  descendant  of  William  Jones,  once  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  the  Colony  of  New  Haven. .  This  Gov. 
Jones  is  represented  in  history  as  one  of  the  regicide 
judges  of  Charles  I.  This  Jones  married  a  sister  of 
Oliver  Cromwell,  "the  Protector,"  and  a  near  relative 
of  the  celebrated  John  Hampden.  Descended  from 
such  an  ancestry,  may  not  Gov.  Tilden  well  have 
applied  to  him  the  epithet,  "  Blood  will  tell  "  ? 

If  Paul  could  say  of  himself,  "  I  was  of  the  strait- 
est  sect,  an  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,"  may  not  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  the  president  in  this  centen 
nial  year  of  our  national  existence  well  say,  "I  am  a 
Puritan  of  the  Puritans,  of  the  '  Ironsides '  of  the  Iron 
sides  "  ?  Give  us  a  grander  or  a  more  noble  ancestry,  or 
one  more  "  dyed  in  the  wool "  for  civil  and  religious 
freedom,  or  one  more  entitled  to  the  appellation  of  a 
reformer,  you  who  can!  The  name  of  Tilden  is  still 


18  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES    TILDEN. 

continued  and  honored  in  the  colony.  As  they  were 
thus  of  the  good  old  stock  from  whence  spring  all  the 
liberty  of  the  British  Constitution,  according  to  the 
testimony  of  the  historian  Hume,  Elam  Tilde n  was 
careful  to  imbue  his  sons  with  the  spirit  and  principles 
of  that  little  band,  who  on  board  "  The  Mayflower," 
before  landing,  entered  into  the  following  compact :  "In 
the  name  of  God,  Amen.  We  whose  names  are  under 
written,  the  loyal  subjects  of  our  dread  sovereign  lord, 
King  James,  by  the  grace  of  God,  of  Great  Britain, 
France,  and  Ireland,  king,  defender  of  the  faith,  &c., 
having  undertaken,  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  ad 
vancement  of  the  Christian  faith  and  honor  of  our  kin^ 

O 

and  country,  a  voyage  to  plant  the  first  colony  in  the 
northern  parts  of  Virginia,  do  by  these  presents  sol 
emnly  and  mutually,  in  the  presence  of  God  and  of  one 
another,  covenant  and  combine  ourselves  together  into  a 
civil  body  politic,  for  our  better  ordering  and  preserva 
tion  ;  and  furthermore,  to  the  end  aforesaid,  and  by 
virtue  hereof,  to  enact,  constitute,  and  frame  such  just 
and  equal  laws,  ordinances,  acts,  constitutions,  and 
officers,  from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be  thought  most 
meet  and  convenient  for  the  general  good  of  the  colony, 
unto  which  we  promise  all  due  submission  and  obedi 
ence. 

"  In  witness  whereof  we  have  hereunder  subscribed 
our  names,  at  Cape  Cod,  the  llth  of  November,  in  the 
year  of  the  reign  of  our  sovereign  lord  King  James 
of  England,  France,  and  Ireland,  the  eighteenth,  and 
of  Scotland  the  fifty-fourth,  Anno  Domini  1620." 


ANCESTRY   OF  GOV.   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN.       19 

To  this  instrument  just  one  hundred  names  were 
subscribed.  To  this  doctrine  of  pure  democracy,  the 
Tilclens  were  strongly  attached ;  and  in  this  school 
Elam  Tilden  fully  and  thoroughly  instructed  his  son 
Samuel  Jones  ;  and  to  it  he  (the  governor)  has  fully 
adhered  till  the  present  time.  As  Elam  Tilden  the 
good  old  New  York  farmer  had  as  implicit  faith  in  the 
fathers  of  Democracy,  Thomas  Jefferson,  Andrew  Jack 
son,  Martin  Van  Buren,  and  their  associates,  as  the  sign 
ers  of  the  compact  of  "  The  Mayflower  "  had  in  King 
James,  or  as  the  Israelites  had  in  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob,  he  had  literally  fulfilled  the  instruction  which 
Moses  gave  to  the  Israelitish  fathers,  and  had  taught 
his  son  these  things,  "  speaking  of  them  when  he  rose 
up,  and  when  he  lay  down ;  when  he  was  in  the  house, 
and  when  he  was  by  the  way,"  so  that  Samuel  Jones 
Tilden  was  the  best  instructed  in  the  national  democ 
racy  by  his  ancestors,  of  any  man  in  the  community. 
So  much  for  his  "  Pilgrim  "  ancestry. 


CHAPTER  II. 

BIETH  AND  EDUCATION  OF   GOV.   TILDEN. 

Columbia  County.  —  The  Chemists,  the  Governor's  Brothers.  — Anec 
dote  of  the  Quaker  Druggist.  —  The  Governor's  Father  a  thorough 
Democrat. —  The  Anti-Masonic  Excitement.  —  Young  Tilden's  Arti 
cle.  —  Mr.  Yan  Buren  denies  its  Paternity.  —  Samuel  enters  Yale 
College.  —  The  Class.  —  Leaves  on  Account  of  his  Health.  —  Gradu 
ates  at  the  New  York  University.  —  Studies  Law.  —  Opens  an  Office. 
—  Is  fairly  in  the  Legal  Profession. 

SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN  was  born  in  New  Lebanon, 
Columbia  County,  State  of  New  York,  Feb.  9,  1814: 
consequently,  he  is  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age. 
His  grandfather,  John  Tilden,  was  one  of  the  early 
settlers  in  this  county.  Columbia  is  in  the  east-south 
east  part  of  New  York  State,  and  contains  an  area  of 
six  hundred  and  twenty  square  miles.  It  is  bounded 
on  the  east  by  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  and  on  the 
west  by  the  Hudson  River,  and  is  drained  by  several 
small  streams  which  afford  valuable  water-power. 
The  surface  of  the  east  part  is  uneven  and  hilly,  but, 
in  the  central  and  western  portions,  nearly  level.  The 
soil  is  generally  fertile  and  well  cultivated.  Iron  and 
lead  ores,  limestone,  slate,  and  marble  are  among  its 
20 


BIBTH   AND   EDUCATION  OF  GOV.   TILDEN.          21 

mineral  productions.  The  warm  springs  of  New  Leb 
anon,  in  the  north-east  part,  are  much  resorted  to. 
The  Western  Railroad,  the  Hudson  River  Railroad, 
and  the  Harlem  Railroad,  traverse  this  county.  Organ 
ized  in  1786.  Capital,  Hudson. 

When  his  grandfather  settled  in  this  county,  it  was 
nearly  a  wilderness.  His  father,  Elam  Tilden,  was  a 
stanch  farmer.  Elam  Tilden  had  three  sons :  Moses 
was  the  eldest,  Henry  the  second,  and  Samuel  Jones 
the  youngest.  Moses  and  Henry  have  long  been 
engaged  as  chemists  in  manufacturing  medicine  at  New 
Lebanon,  N.Y.  Their  medicines  have  long  been  held 
in  good  repute  ;  and  the  writer  had  employed  them  in 
medical  practice  in  Boston  for  more  than  twenty  years, 
when,  about  the  commencement  of  the  late  Avar,  he 
removed  to  Philadelphia.  The  following  incident 
shows  the  pride  of  the  Philadelphia  druggists.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  "  City  of  Brotherly  Love " 
has  long  claimed  pre-eminence  as  the  medical  emporium 
of  our  country.  One  day,  I  entered  the  shop  of  a 
druggist,  and  inquired  if  he  had  Tilden's  extracts. 
He  gave  no  answer.  As  he  was  an  elderly  man,  I 
thought  he  might  be  hard  of  hearing,  and  repeated  the 
question  in  a  somewhat  louder  tone,  "  Do  you  keep 
Tilden's  extracts  ?  "  when  he  screamed,  loud  enough 
to  frighten  a  quiet  Quaker,  "  No  !  We  don't  go  to 
New  York  to  get  our  medicines.  Do  you  think  we  go 
to  New  York  to  get  our  medicines?"  Still  I  think 
Moses  and  Henry  Tilden  make  quite  as  good  medicines 
as  the  druggists  of  the  "  Quaker  City." 


22  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

Elam  Tilden  was  a  thorough  Democrat,  of  the 
Andrew  Jackson  school.  He  believed  in  Thomas  Jeff 
erson,  Andrew  Jackson,  Martin  Van  Buren,  Gov. 
Marcy,  the  Livingstons,  Silas  Wright,  and  their  coad 
jutors.  The  deeds  of  these  men  were  often  spoken  of 
in  the  family ;  and  the  present  governor,  then  a  lad, 
became  deeply  interested  in  Democracy. 

About  this"  time  it  was  reported  that  William 
Morgan,  who  had  written  a  book  exposing  Freema 
sonry,  had  been  abstracted  from  his  home,  and  mur 
dered  by  the  Masons.  The  Anti-Masonic  fever  spread 
like  wildfire  over  the  country ;  and  so  great  was  the 
excitement  that  no  man  who  was  a  Mason,  or  said  a 
word  in  their  favor,  could  be  elected  to  any  office,  or 
allowed  to  remain  a  member  of  any  church.  Those 
who  did  not  join  the  cry,  "  Down  with  Masonry  !  " 
were  called  Jacks,  and  were  as  unpopular  as  the  Masons 
themselves.  An  effort  was  made  at  this  period  to 
accomplish  a  coalition  between  the  National  Republi 
cans  and  the  Anti-Masons,  and  thus  defeat  the  election 
of  Andrew  Jackson  as  President,  and  Martin  Van 
Buren  as  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  and 
William  L.  Marcy  as  Governor  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  The  contest  was  a  sharp  and  bitter  one. 
Young  Samuel,  then,  in  1832,  only  in  his  eighteenth 
year,  collected  together  the  views  he  had  heard 
expressed  in  the  family,  wrote  them  out,  and  showed 
them  to  his  father.  The  father  was  so  well  pleased 
with  the  drawing-up  of  the  paper,  and  the  clearness 


BIRTH   AND   EDUCATION   OF   GOV.   TILDEN.          23 

with  which  he  showed  the  inconsistency  and  absurdity 
of  the  Anti-Masonic  coalition,  that  he  took  it  and  his 
son  to  Mr.  Van  Buren.  The  final  result  was,  it  was 
published  in  "  The  Albany  Argus,"  Oct.  9,  1832,  and 
used  as  a  campaign  document.  The  argument  was  so 
good,  and  the  reasoning  so  cogent,  that  the  authorship 
was  charged  upon  Mr.  Van  Buren.  This  was  so  gen 
erally  believed,  that  Mr.  Van  Buren  came  out  with  a 
disclaimer,  denying  that  he  wrote  it.  This  was  the 
first  political  effort  of  Gov.  Tilden,  when  a  mere  boy, 
and  long  before  his  education  was  completed.  Thus 
Gov.  Tilden  inherited  a  taste  for  politics  from  his 
father,  and  early  entered  this  arena. 

When  eighteen  years  old,  Samuel  entered  the  sopho 
more  class  in  Yale  College.  This  was  the  class  of  1837, 
and  one  remarkable  for  talent,  containing  the  present 
Chief  Justice  Waite  of  the  United  States  Court,  the 
eminent  attorney  William  M.  Evarts,  Prof.  Silliman, 
Judge  Edwards  Pierrepont,  and  others.  Mr.  Tilden's 
health  failing,  he  left  Yale  without  graduating  with  his 
class.  It  is  somewhat  remarkable,  that  this  was  the 
only  failure  of  his  health  during  his  sixty-three  years. 
He  completed  his  undergraduate  studies  under  Chan 
cellor  Mathews,  and  graduated  at  the  University  of 
New  York. 

Soon  after  his  graduation,  Mr.  Tilden  commenced 
the  study  of  law,  in  the  office  of  the  late  John  W. 
Edmunds  of  New  York.  Here  he  had  peculiar  facili 
ties  for  the  study  of  law,  and  also  of  politics,  for  the 


24  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

latter  of  which,  we  have  already  seen,  he  had  strong 
proclivities.  He  had  previously  selected  this  as  his 
profession  ;  and  now  his  acute  and  keenly  logical  mind 
was  applied  with  great  earnestness  to  search  out  all 
that  could  be  learned  while  a  student  in  this  profession. 
He  is  said  to  have  made  good  progress  in  his  studies. 
Upon  admission  to  the  bar,  he  opened  an  office  in  Pine 
Street,  New  York. 

He  was  now  fairly  introduced  into  the  legal  pro 
fession,  and,  as  the  usual  expression  goes,  had  finished 
his  education ;  though  in  reality  a  man's  education  is 
but  just  begun  when  he  commences  the  practice  of  his 
profession. 

Having  thus  traced  the  genealogy  and  studies  of  Mr. 
Tilden,  down  to  this  period,  and  noticed  his  taste  for 
political  investigations,  we  are  now  prepared  to  speak 
of  his  success  in  legal  practice  and  as  a  political  man  ; 
and  as  for  several  of  the  first  years  in  his  legal  pro 
fession  he  mingled  with  politicians,  and  wrote  and 
spoke  for  that  party,  I  shall  give  his  acts  with  the  same 
admixture. 


CHAPTER  III. 

POLITICAL  PARTIES. 

Quotation  from  Dr.  Capen's  Book.  —  From  Dr.  Young  and  Pope.  — 
Early  Origin  of  Parties  in  our  Country. — Federalists,  Republi 
cans,  Whigs,  and  Democrats.  —  Thomas  Jefferson.  —  Political 
Lying.  —  John  Quincy  Adams.  —  Andrew  Jackson.  —  Anecdote 
of  Harrison  and  John  Tyler. — Fame  of*  Gen.  Jackson  growing 
Brighter.  —  Many  Times  the  Country  has  been  Lost  and  Saved.  — 
Deacon's  Prayer.  —  Rev.  Mr.  Burnham  of  New  Hampshire.  —  The 
Coming  Election.  —  A  Warm  Canvass.  — Mr.  Tilden's  Experience. 

"  PAKTY  is  the  great  engine  of  human  progress.  It 
is  a  combination  of  men  of  similar  views  and  kindred 
sympathies,  for  moral  or  political  supremacy.  It  leads 
to  the  war  of  knowledge  upon  ignorance,  the  conflict 
of  holiness  against  sin,  the  struggles  of  freedom 
against  tyranny.  It  is  to  be  found  in  man  as  an  indi 
vidual,  swayed  by  the  opposing  passions  of  the  soul, 
whether  for  good  or  evil ;  and  by  the  objects  of  choice, 
whether  yielding  to  or  resisting  the  spirit  of  tempta 
tion.  It  is  to  be  found  in  the  numerous  associations 
of  society  for  influence ;  controUing  customs,  forming 
habits,  advancing  fashions,  and  modifying,  limiting,  or 
extending  the  social  or  domestic  duties.  It  divides 
the  Church  in  regard  to  the  sacred  teachings  of  the 

25 


26  LIFE  OF   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

Holy  Scriptures;  and  sects  spring  up  to  defend  their 
varying  creeds,  each  opposing  each,  and  each  opposing 
all.  The  votaries  of  science  have  their  favorite  schools 
and  classes ;  and  party  zeal  is  made  to  quicken  the 
conceptions  of  genius.  Bold  and  righteous  men  rise 
up  as  partisans  against  the  world,  pledged  as  martyrs 
to  reformation.  The  people  of  every  nation  divide 
and  subdivide  in  regard  to  their  national  rights  and 
interests  ;  and  we  sometimes  have  the  sublime  spectacle 
of  parties  made  up  of  emperors,  kings,  and  presidents ; 
of  empires,  monarchies,  and  republics,  discussing  the 
great  principles  of  national  law,  intervention,  and  the 
balance  of  power. 

"  A  world  without  party  would  be  incapable  of  prog 
ress.  In  all  ages,  parties  have  been  viewed  as  indis 
pensable  to  existence." 

The  above  quotation  is  made  from  "  The  History 
of  Democracy,"  by  Nahum  Capen,  LL.D. 

The  author  has  not  such  exalted  views  arising  from 
the  benefit  of  parties  as  Dr.  Capen  has  here  expressed. 
They  may  be  and  undoubtedly  are  beneficial  as  a 
whole,  upon  the  principle  that 

"  The  dread  volcano  ministers  to  good: 
Its  smothered  flames  might  undermine  the  world; 
Loud  .ZEtnas  fulminate  in  love  to  man; 
Comets  good  omens  are  when  duly  scanned; 
And  in  their  use  eclipses  learn  to  shine; " 

Or,  according  to  Alexander  Pope,  that 

"  All  partial  evil's  universal  good." 


POLITICAL  PARTIES.  2"i 

Political  parties  had  an  early  origin  in  the  history 
of  our  country ;  and  political  lying  was  never  carried 
to  greater  perfection  than  during  the  days  of  the 
Federalists  and  Republicans,  when  John  Adams  and 
Thomas  Jefferson  were  the  Presidents  of  the  United 
States.  The  Federalists  represented  Jefferson  as  a 
fiend  incarnate,  in  league  with  Napoleon  Bonaparte  L, 
who  was  then  in  his  glory.  They  predicted  that  he 
would  conquer  the  whole  of  the  Eastern  world,  and 
then  set  his  blood-stained  foot  on  the  neck  of  America ; 
that  Jefferson,  full  of  French  infidelity,  and  his  coadju 
tors,  were  planning  to  betray  this  nation,  and  deliver  it 
into  the  hands  of  that  tyrant. 

The  Federal  ministers  of  that  day  fulminated  their 
political  bulls  with  a  zeal  and  energy  well  calculated 
to  rekindle  the  "  fires  of  Smithfield."  The  people, 
however,  contented  themselves  with  quarrelling  hand 
somely  with  each  other  every  time  they  met ;  the 
leaders  having  a  fight  every  May-training  and  town- 
meeting-day,  and  the  ladies  keeping  apart  from  each 
other  as  much  as  they  possibly  could,  and  having  a 
hot  time  whenever  they  did  meet  at  a  tea-party.  I 
cannot  forbear  giving  my  readers  one  little  "  tempest 
in  a  teapot,"  a  small  affair,  which  came  off  at  my 
grandfather's  when  I  was  eight  years  old.  Grandfather 
was  a  Federalist,  but  not  so  rampant  as  some  of  them. 
He  was  an  owner  in  navigation  in  a  small  way  with 
Capt.  S.  F.  and  Capt.  D.  N. ;  the  former  a  Republican, 
and  the  latter  a  Federalist.  They  had  met  in  one  of  the 


28  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

short  days  of  December,  1810,  sixty-six  years  ago  next 
December.  That  may  seem  a  good  while  to  my  readers 
who  are  now  young ;  but  I  can  assure  them  that  it  is 
very  short.  These  three  had  met  at  grandfather's 
because  he  was  the  oldest  of  the  trio. 

Capt.  F.,  who  I  said  was  a  Republican,  and  Capt.  N. 
on  the  other  side,  soon  got  into  a  squabble.  They 
were  awfully  cross,  talked  loud,  looked  ugly,  gesticu 
lated  as  though  they  would  hurt  each  other,  and 
seemed  to  me  to  be  very  dangerous  men.  I  took 
shelter  behind  my  grandfather's  chair,  lest  by  some 
side  blow  they  should  hit  me  ;  and,  from  a  child,  I 
never  liked  to  be  hit.  One  of  them,  after  the  conflict 
had  lasted  from  ten  in  the  morning  to  ten  at  night 
(and  grandfather  always  had  some  good  old  Jamaica, 
sugar,  apple-cider,  and  pot-luck),  Capt.  F.,  seemed 
desirous  to  go  home.  He  would  start  and  go  as  far  as 
the  door,  then  come  back,  with  a  "  No,  I  won't  leave 
you  [addressed  to  Capt.  N.]  ;  for,  after  I  am  gone, 
you  will  tell  Capt.  B.  more  lies  than  the  Devil  can 
count."  Such  were  the  yelpings  of  politicians  from 
1808  to  1815.  America  has  seen  nothing  like  that 
excitement  since. 

The  Federal  party  died  with  the  "  Hartford  Conven 
tion." 

As  a  doggerel  poet  of  that  day  said,  — 

"Did  twenty  lawyers  there  agree 
To  form  a  great  conspiracy." 


POLITICAL   PARTIES.  29 

Upon  the  death  of  the  Federalists,  the  "Whig  party 
arose,  and  the  Republicans  of  that  day  took  the  name 
of  Democrats.  New  phases  of  old  questions,  and  new 
combinations,  now  took  place.  No  President  was 
elected  by  the  people  ;  and  John  Quincy  Adams  was 
chosen  by  the  House  of  Representatives.  His  admin 
istration  of  four  years  was  the  most  economical  one  we 
have  had  since  we  became  a  nation. 

Gen.  Andrew  Jackson  now  came  into  the  field  as  a 
candidate  for  the  presidency,  and  was  elected.  The 
contest  was  a  very  exciting  one ;  and  all  kinds  of 
epithets  were  heaped  upon  Jackson.  He  was  a  Jaco 
bin,  a  duellist,  an  ignoramus  who  did  not  know  how  to 
write  his  name.  The  cry  of  the  Whigs  was,  If  he  were 
elected,  the  country  was  ruined ;  the  nation  would  run 
into  anarchy,  and  be  blotted  out.  But  he  was  elected, 
and  the  nation  didn't  die. 

He  was  chosen  to  a  second  term ;  and  the  nation  still 
lived.  He  strangled  the  United  States,  technically 
called  "  Nick  Biddle's,"  Bank ;  and  the  country  was 
ruined  again.  .He  removed  the  deposits,  and  again 
ruined  the  country.  He  was  an  honest,  patriotic  man, 
a  true  Unionist;  and  put  down  nullification  by  his 
proclamation,  as  soon  as  they  in  South  Carolina  had 
read  it.  Well  do  I  remember  when  they  of  that  hot 
State  had  got  all  ready  to  go  out  of  the  Union,  and  set 
up  housekeeping  for  themselves.  The  day  was  fixed  ; 
and  every  boy  wore  his  cockade  of  independence  from 
the  Union  in  his  hat.  But  they  never  knew,  in  that 


30  LIFE  OP   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

State,  when  the  day  came  that  they  were  to  go  out  of 
the  Union. 

People  at  the  North,  who  supposed  Daniel  Webster 
was  the  embodiment  of  all  knowledge  and  statesman 
ship,  said  he  wrote  that  proclamation.  But  no  matter 
who  wrote  it,  so  long  as  Andrew  Jackson  signed  it. 
The  whole  of  it  was  in  a  "  nut-shell,"  and  simply 
this  :  "  If  you  are  not  still,  down  there  in  South  Caro 
lina,  I  will  hang  John  C.  Calhoun  high  as  Haman,  and 
let  loose  the  dogs  of  war  upon  you." 

Jackson  was  an  honest  man,  and,  when  threatened 
with  impeachment  for  violating  the  Constitution,  could 
say  with  truth,  "  I  have  administered  the  Constitution 
as  I  understand  it."  The  following  anecdote  shows 
the  readiness  of  that  old  hero  to  aid  the  needy  and  suf 
fering  :  A  graceless  official  (would  there  had  been  no 
such  swindlers  there  since  Jackson's  day !)  had  boarded 
with  a  poor  widow  lady  until  his  bill  amounted  to 
several  hundred  dollars  (the  old  lady  not  feeling  willing 
to  lose,  and  expecting  she  should  if  he  left  her),  when 
he  refused  to  pay  her  any  thing.  She  thought  she  would 
go  and  see  Pres.  Jackson.  Accordingly  she  went  to  the 
White  House,  rang  the  bell;  the  messenger  answered 
it,  and  she  inquired  if  the  President  was  at  home.  He 
said  he  was.  "  Can  I  see  him  ?  "  said  she.  "  I  will  see," 
said  the  messenger.  He  informed  the  President  that  a 
woman  at  the  door  wished  to  speak  with  him.  "  Show 
her  up,"  said  the  President.  When  she  entered  his 
room,  he  said,  "  What  can  I  do  for  you,  ma'am  ? " 


POLITICAL  PABTIES.  31 

"  Well,  general,"  said  she,  "  I  don't  know  as  you  can 
do  any  thing  ;  but  I  thought  I  would  tell  you  my  story. 
I  am  a  poor  woman,  and  take  boarders  for  a  living. 
There  is  a  clerk  in  such  a  department,  who  owes  me 
several  hundred  dollars ;  and,  though  he  has  a  good 
salary,  he  says  he  will  never  pay  me."  —  "  Well,"  said 
the  President,  "  you  go  and  see  him  again  ;  and,  if  you 
can't  get  any  money  of  him,  ask  him  if  he  will  give 
you  his  note ;  and,  if  you  get  it,  come  and  see  me 
again."  She  went  and  saw  him ;  and,  when  he  refused 
to  give  her  any  money,  she  said,  "  Will  you  give  me 
your  note  ? "  He  said,  "  Yes,"  and  gave  it  to  her. 
When  she  had  left,  he  said  to  the  other  clerks,  "  That 
old  fool  thinks  she  will  now  get  her  money ;  but  I  had 
as  lief  give  her  fifty  notes  as  not."  She  then  called  on 
Pres.  Jackson  again.  "  Did  you  get  any  money  ? " 
said  the  President.  "  No,  sir."  —  "  Did  you  get  his 
note  ?  "  —  "  Yes,  sir."  —  "  Let  me  see  it,"  said  the  Presi 
dent.  She  gave  it  to  him.  He  pulled  down  his  glasses, 
read  it,  turned  it  over,  and  put  his  name  on  the  back  of 
it.  Handing  it  back  to  the  woman,  he  said,  "  You  stop 
at  the  bank,  and  perhaps  they  will  give  you  the  money 
for  it.  I  rather  think  they  will."  She  obtained  her 
money.  The  note  became  due,  and  the  bank  notified 
the  young  rascal  of  the  fact.  Hastening  to  the  bank, 
in  an  indignant  manner  he  inquired,  "  Why  did  you 
discount  my  note  ?  Didn't  you  know  that  you  never 
would  get  your  pay  ?  "  The  bank  man  calmly  replied, 
"  We  will  discount  as  many  notes  as  you  will  send  us 


32  LIFE  OP  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

with  the  same  indorser."  —  "  Who  ?  what  fool  indorsed 
my  note  ?  "  He  was  shown  the  note  ;  and,  as  he  read 
upon  the  back  of  it  the  name  of  Andrew  Jackson,  a 
new  light  broke  in  upon  him.  He  hastened  and  paid 
the  note.  But  that  did  not  save  his  neck ;  for,  when 
the  quarter  came  round,  he  was  informed  "  there  was  no 
more  work  for  him  to  do  under  the  Administration  of 
Andrew  Jackson." 

When  the  late  Kebellion  commenced,  and  James 
Buchanan  was  President,  many  of  the  old  Whigs,  who 
had  turned  Republicans  upon  the  death  of  the  Whig 
party,  and  who  had  been  good  haters  of  Andrew  Jack 
son,  and  doubtless  could  have  prayed  as  did  the  good 
old  deacon  of  Providence,  R.I.,  "  O  Lord,  convert  Gen. 
Jackson,  and  take  him  to  heaven,  for  thou  knowest 
we  don't  want  him  here,"  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  we  wish 
Gen.  Jackson  was  president !  for  he  would  soon  end  this 
Rebellion,  as  he  did  nullification  in  1833."  All  classes 
in  the  community  now  join  in  praising  the  old  hero  of 
New  Orleans,  and  none  more  loudly  than  those  who 
detested  and  scandalized  him  when  he  was  president. 
From  the  day  of  his  death,  to  the  present  time,  his 
name  has  shone  with  increasing  brilliancy,  and  his 
fame  has  been  growing  brighter. 

Again,  in  1840,  a  general  excitement  took  place.  The 
country  was  again  to  be  saved  or  lost.  The  Democrats 
had  been  in  power  twelve  years ;  eight  under  Gen. 
Jackson,  and  four  under  Mr.  Van  Buren.  The  Whigs 
now  determined  to  take  the  country  by  storm.  William 


POLITICAL  PARTIES.  33 

Henry  Harrison  was  their  candidate  for  president,  and 
John  Tyler  for  vice-president.  Hard  cider  and  log- 
cabins  were  the  order  of  the  day ;  and  they  sung,  — 

"  Tippecanoe 
And  Tyler,  too." 

The  ticket  was  elected,  and  Gen.  Harrison  died  in 

one  month; 

"  And  Tyler,  too,"  — 

by  turning  Democrat,  handed  the  government  over 
again  to  the  Democracy. 

Since  1840  the  government  has  been  saved  or  lost 
several  times.  Now,  in  this  Centennial  year  1876,  it  is 
to  be  lost  or  saved  again.  These  alternate  savings  and 
losings  remind  us  of  a  little  incident  which  took  place 
many  years  ago  in  New  Hampshire.  Old  Minister 
Burnham  of  Pembroke,  in  the  Granite  State,  was  a 
zealous  Whig.  The  State  had  been  ruled  by  the  Demo 
crats  for  several  years ;  but,  at  the  time  now  referred  to, 
a  Whig  governor  had  been  elected.  Mr.  Burnham  read 
the  proclamation  for  a  day  of  Thanksgiving,  with  the 
appendage,  "  God  save  the  Commonwealth  of  New 
Hampshire  !  "  and  added  "  God  has  saved  the  Common 
wealth  of  New  Hampshire." 

All  the  indications  are,  that  a  warm  canvass  is  before 
us.  The  men  nominated  by  both  parties  are  all  highly 
esteemed  by  those  who  have  put  them  in  nomination. 

Mr.  Tilden  has  always  been,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the 
Democratic  school.  That  from  his  youth  up,  he  has 


34  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

been  thoroughly  posted  as  to  every  rope  in  the  Demo 
cratic  ship,  no  one  can  doubt.  Had  this  not  been  the 
case,  he  never  could  have  written  that  famous  paper 
already  named,  and  charged  to  have  come  from  the  pen 
of  so  learned  and  shrewd  a  politician  as  Mr.  Van  Buren ; 
for,  of  whatever  else  Mr.  Van  Buren  may  have  been 
charged,  no  one  ever  considered  him  wanting  in  good 
sense  or  intellectual  vigor.  The  items  in  this  chapter, 
or  rather  this  sketch  of  political  history,  have  been  given 
to  set  before  our  readers  the  men  who  have  figured 
upon  our  stage,  and  the  views  that  have  been  enter 
tained  of  them  by  the  people,  with  whom,  in  the  end, 
it  will  be  found  the  truth  lies. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

POLITICAL  LABORS  OP  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

Choice  of  a  Profession.  —  What  is  expected  of  a  Professional  Man.  — 
Waiting  in  a  Profession.  —  Mr.  Tilden's  Political  Papers. —-His 
Speech  answering  Nathaniel  P.  Tallmadge.  —  He  becomes  an 
Editor.  —  Leaves  the  Editorship,  and  becomes  a  Member  of  the 
Assembly.  —  His  Prominence  in  that  Body.  —  Is  elected  a  Mem 
ber  of  the  Convention  to  remodel  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  —  Becomes  Conspicuous  in  that  Body. 

WE  now  return  to  Mr.  Tilden  in  his  law-office  in 
Pine  Street  in  the  city  of  New  York.  He  had  settled 
the  most  important  question  that  ever  presents  itself  to 
a  young  man ;  to  wit,  the  choice  of  a  profession. 

In  the  decision  of  this  question  is  frequently  in 
volved  the  success  or  failure  of  a  lifetime.  A  wrong 
choice  at  this  critical  period  has  ruined  many  an  indi 
vidual.  He  had  chosen  the  profession  of  the  law, 
the  only  one  from  which,  according  to  Dr.  Emmons 
and  many  others,  a  great  public  man  or  statesman  can 
come ;  for,  though  occasionally  such  a  man  arises  out 
of  some  other  profession,  as  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Loring 
from  the  medical  profession,  and  of  the  late  Edward 
Everett  of  the  clerical,  yet  these  are  exceptions  to  the 

35 


36  LIFE  OP  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

general  rule,  and  happen  only  in  those  cases  where,  as 
the  phrase  is,  they  are  born  with  a  "  silver  spoon  in 
their  mouths,"  or  into  whose  laps  nuggets  of  gold  drop 
from  their  ancestors. 

Previous  to  entering  a  profession,  we  are  considered 
mere  learners  or  students ;  and  a  mistake  made  at  this 
period  is  pardonable,  for  it  was  at  least  half  attribu 
table  to  the  teacher  who  was  our  guide.  But,  once 
having  taken  upon  us  the  responsibility  of  a  profession, 
we  are  "  no  longer  under  a  schoolmaster,"  but  are 
henceforward  our  own  guides,  and  projectors  of  our 
own  fortunes. 

Mr.  Tilden  inherited  nothing,  or  but  a  small  patri 
mony,  from  his  father,  who,  though  a  well-to-do  New 
York  farmer  with  other  sons,  had  but  little  to  bestow 
upon  his  young  lawyer,  save  the  aid  which  he  gave  him 
in  acquiring  his  education. 

Like  every  young  man  who  enters  either  the  legal 
or  medical  profession,  unless  he  have  a  "  father  into 
whose  shoes,"  to  use  a  common  expression,  "he  can 
step,"  he  had  but  few  clients  and  but  a  limited  income. 
Not  one-half  of  our  young  lawyers,  unless  favored  as 
just  stated  by  a  paternal  inheritance,  earn  enough 
during  several  of  the  first  years  of  their  profession  to 
pay  their  board.  In  the  medical  profession  the  case  is 
no  better.  Prof.  Channing,  of  Harvard  Medical  College, 
was  accustomed  to  relate  to  each  class  once  a  year  the 
following  story :  — 

"  Immediately  after  graduating,  I  took  an  office  in 


POLITICAL  LABORS   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN.         37 

Boston,  and  put  out  my-shingle.  The  first  month  I  had 
but  one  call,  and  that,  to  a  lady.  I  gave  her  an  emetic  ; 
and  I  did  not  sleep  any  that  night  for  fear  I  had  given 
her  enough  to  kill  her.  Not  having  any  more  calls,  at 
the  end  of  the  second  month  I  closed  my  office,  left  my 
name  standing,  and  embarked  for  Europe,  where  I  spent 
two  years.  Whether  anybody  called  during  my 

absence,  I  never  knew." 

I 

Mr.  Tilden,  however,  had  meddled  so  much  with 
politics,  and  had  become  acquainted  with  so  many  emi 
nent  men  of  the  Democratic  party,  that  little  or  no  time 
was  left  him  for  ennui ;  for  he  had  done  much  for  his 
party  before  entering  his  profession.  In  1837  Martin 
Van  Buren  became  President  of  the  United  States. 
"  During  that  summer  appeared  the  presidential  mes 
sage  calling  for  a  special  session  of  Congress,  and  rec 
ommending  the  separation  of  the  government  from 
the  banks,  and  the  establishment  of  the  independent 
treasury.  This  measure  provoked  voluminous  and 
acrimonious  debate  throughout  the  country,  even  before 
it  engaged  the  attention  of  Congress."  The  Whigs 
considered  it  a  radical  movement,  and  one  which  would 
prove  the  ruin  of  the  country  and  the  failure  of  all 
commercial  business ;  and  the  organs  of  the  Whig  party 
were  unsparing  in  their  criminations  of  the  adminis 
tration,  upon  whose  misdemeanors  they  charged  the 
whole  financial  crisis. 

Mr.  Tilden,  schooled  as  we  have  seen  in  the  tactics 
of  the  Democracy,  though  still  a  student,  came  to  the 


38  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

defence  of  the  President's  policy.  He  wrote  a  series 
of  articles,  characterized  by  great  strength  of  argument, 
advocating  the  recommendation  of  the  President's  sepa 
rating  the  government  from  the  banks,  and  redeeming 
the  currency  in  specie.  Thus  as  early  as  1837  he 
showed  his  strong  proclivities  for  "hard  money." 
Like  his  first  article  referred  to  in  a  former  chapter,  the 
name  of  Tilden  was  not  affixed  to  these  papers. 

We  select  the  following,  showing  the  talent,  power, 
and  adaptability  of  Mr.  Tilden,  though  so  young,  to 
defend  the  political  party  which  he  had  espoused :  it  is 
from  an  historian  of  that  period.  "  In  the  fall  of  1838, 
Nathaniel  P.  Tallmadge,  a  senator  of  the  United  States 
from  New  York,  who  had  separated  from  the  Demo 
cratic  party  and  joined  the  Whigs  in  opposition  to  the 
financial  policy  of  President  Van  Buren,  was  announced 
to  speak  on  the  issues  of  the  day  in  Columbia  County. 
A  meeting  had  been  arranged  very  quietly,  at  which  it 
was  hoped  he  might  exert  an  influence  upon  the  doubt 
ful  men,  and  change  the  complexion  of  the  party.  The 
Tildens  heard  of  the  proposed  meeting  about  noon  of 
the  day  upon  which  it  was  to  be  held.  They  promptly 
sent  word  to  all  the  Democrats  of  the  vicinity ;  and  the 
result  was  one  of  the  largest  meetings  ever  known  in 
that  region.  Tallmadge,  in  the  course  of  his  speech, 
took  great  pains  to  convince  his  audience  that  it  was 
the  Democrats  that  had  changed  their  position,  but 
that  he  and  his  friends  were  unchanged.  At  the  close 
of  his  remarks,  one  of  the  Whig  leaders  of  the  move- 


POLITICAL  LABORS   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN.         39 

merit  offered  a  resolution,  which  passed  without  oppo 
sition,  inviting  any  Democrats  in  the  assembly  that 
might  be  so  disposed  to  reply  to  the  senator.  The 
young  Democrats,  who  had  mostly  gathered  in  the  rear 
of  the  hall,  regarding  this  as  a  challenge  to  them, 
shouted  for  Tilden.  Samuel,  yielding  to  the  obvious 
sentiment,  came  forward,  and  took  the  place  just 
vacated  by  the  senator. 

"  After  discussing  the  main  question  of  the  contro 
versy,  he  adverted  to  the  personal  aspects  of  the  sena 
tor's  speech,  and  especially  to  his  statement  that  the 
Democrats  had  changed  position,  while  he  himself  had 
remained  consistent.  By  way  of  testing  the  truth  of 
this  declaration,  he  turned  to  the  Whigs  on  the  plat 
form,  and,  pointing  to  each  of  them  in  turn,  asked  if  it 
was  they,  or  if  it  was  the  senator  who  had  opposed 
them  in  the  late  contest  for  the  presidency,  that  had 
changed?  Finally,  fixing  his  eye  upon  the  chairman, 
Mr.  Gilbert,  a  memorable  farmer  and  almost  an  octoge 
narian,  he  said,  in  a  tone  of  mingled  compliment  and 
expostulation,  '  And  you,  sir,  have  you  changed  ?  ' 
By  this  direct  inquiry  the  honest  old  man  was  thrown 
off  hia  guard,  and  stoutly  cried  out,  '  No  !  '  Mr. 
Tilden  skilfully  availed  himself  of  this  declaration  of 
his  old  neighbor  and  friend,  and  applied  it  to  the 
senator  in  a  strain  of  masterly  sarcasm  and  irony.  The 
effect  was  electric ;  it  thrilled  the  assembly,  and  com 
pletely  destroyed  the  objects  of  the  meeting. 

"  Mr.  Tilden,  who  had  watched  the  financial  revolu- 


40  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

tion  of  1837  from  the  beginning,  and  knew  its  merits  as 
thoroughly,  perhaps,  as  any  man  of  his  time,  undertook 
a  defence  of  the  President's  scheme,  and  to  overthrow 
the  sophistries  of  his  enemies,  in  a  speech  which  he 
delivered  in  New  Lebanon  on  the  third  day  of  October, 
1850.  No  one  can  read  this  speech  without  marvelling 
that  men  like  Webster  and  Nicholas  Biddle,  to  whose 
arguments  Mr.  Tilden  especially  addressed  himself, 
could  ever  have  become  the  champions  of  a  system 
under  which  the  revenues  of  a  nation  were  made  the 
basis  of  commercial  discounts.  It  is  more  marvellous, 
however,  that  in  so  short  a  time  our  people  should  have 
forgotten,  as  to  a  very  considerable  extent  they  appear 
to  have  done,  the  lessons  taught  in  this  speech,  and 
those  still  better  taught  by  the  war  then  waged  by  the 
Democratic  party  with  the  policy  of  inflation,  irre 
deemable  currency,  and  irresponsible  credits.  At  the 
time  this  speech  was  delivered,  the  Whigs  were  medi 
tating  the  re-establishment  of  the  United  States  Bank 
if  they  could  succeed  in  dividing  the  Democrats  on  the 
sub-treasury  scheme. 

"  This  effort  provoked  Mr.  Tilden  to  review  the  his 
tory  of  the  bank,  and  expose  its  ill-founded  claims  to 
be  regarded  in  any  sense  as  what  it  claimed  to  be, 
4  a  regulator  of  the  currency.'  What  he  says  upon  that 
subject  possesses  to  the  reader  of  to-day  not  only  con 
siderable  historical  interest,  but  is  pregnant  with  les 
sons  which  we  fear  will  never  be  out  of  season." 


CHAPTER  V. 

ME.   TILDEN  AS  A  LAWYER. 

Further  Success  as  a  Politician  by  Mr.  Tilden.  —  Takes  the  Palm 
from  Senator  Tallmadge.  —  He  feels  the  Need  of  Money.  —  Con 
trast  between  the  Professions  of  Lawyers,  Doctors,  and  Minis 
ters. — A  Hermit. — Mr.  Tilden  knew  his  Power  as  a  Lawyer. — 
Defeat  of  Silas  Wright,  and  Political  Changes,  proved  favorable 
to  him.  —  He  soon  becomes  eminent  as  an  Attorney.  —  How  he 
managed  the  Case  of  Mr.  Flagg.  —  Mr.  Tilden  starts  a  Newspaper. 
—  He  is  chosen  a  Member  of  the  Assembly.  —  His  Work  there.  — 
He  is  elected  a  Member  of  the  Convention  to  remodel  the  Consti 
tution. —  His  Management  of  the  Canal  Case.  —  Dr.  Burdell's 
Case.  —  Case  of  Delaware  and  Hudson  Company  against  the 
Philadelphia  Coal  Company. — The  Cumberland  Coal  Company. 

MR.  TILDEN  now  had  fame.  He  had  written  what 
had  been  ascribed  to  one  of  the  shrewdest  politicians 
of  our  country,  when  he  was  but  eighteen  years  old. 
We  all  remember  Mr.  Van  Buren,  who  was  represented 
as  the  great  magician,  or,  as  Alexander  H.  Everett 
styled  him,  the  "  little  Dutchman,"  sitting  behind  the 
screen,  and  pulling  all  the  wires  during  the  eight 
years  of  the  administration  of  Andrew  Jackson.  It 
was  glory  enough  for  Mr.  Tilden,  that  in  his  teens  he 
should  have  written  so  pungent  and  logical  a  paper, 

41 


42  LIFE  OP  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

that  the  sage  men  in  the  community  could  have 
ascribed  it  to  such  a  man. 

But  now,  in  addition  to  this,  he  had  written  other 
strong  and  powerful  papers  ;  he  had  defeated  so  promi 
nent  a  man  as  Samuel  P.  Tallmadge,  a  senator  of  New 
York  in  Congress,  in  an  argument  at  a  mass-meeting. 
He  had  taken  the  lead  in  the  Assembly  of  the  great 
State  of  New  York,  and  in  the  Convention  to  form  a 
new  Constitution.  These  things,  considering  his  youth, 
were  fame  and  glory  enough. 

But  he  had  discovered  that  neither  all  these,  nor  his 
newspaper  exploit,  had  brought  him  bread  or  money ; 
and,  as  already  stated,  he  inherited  no  fortune  from 
his  father,  though  he  had  a  good  name  from  his  ances- 
torial  record.  He  now  found  that  a  man  must  have 
not  only  fame,  but  -money,  to  be  successful  in  life. 
This  was  to  be  made  in  his  profession. 

A  lawyer  is  a  peculiar  man,  not  only  as  to  becoming 
a  great  man,  a  statesman,  as  formerly  said,  but  also  in 
many  other  respects.  He  is  a  man  whom  the  people 
fear.  They  look  upon  him  with  a  kind  of  dread,  as 
though  he  had  power  to  do  them  harm,  to  bring  them 
into  the  courts,  to  mulch  them  out  of  their  money,  and 
to  do  pretty  much  as  he  has  a  mind  to.  Thus  lawyers 
were  considered  by  our  Puritanic  fathers  as,  if  not  a 
veiy  wicked  and  mischievous,  at  least  a  useless  and 
unnecessary  class.  This  was  the  objection  that  the  good 
old  Puritanic  parish  of  Wey mouth  made  to  John  Adams 
marrying  Abigail  Smith,  their  parson's  daughter.  Per- 


MB.   TILDEN  AS  A  LAWYER.  43 

haps  I  can  explain  the  views  people  generally  have 
of  lawyers  by  the  following  episode  :  In  my  boyish 
days,  there  lived  near  the  famous  Dighton  Rock,  on  a 
little  plat  of  land  by  "  Taunton  Great  River,"  a  her 
mit.  He  was  a  bachelor,  but  had  several  relatives 
from  whom  he  kept  aloof.  But  one  boy,  a  nephew, 
seemed  to  get  into  the  good  graces  of  his  uncle  the 
hermit,  who  invited  the  lad  to  come  and  stop  with  him. 
He  did  so  ;  and,  for  a  time,  they  appeared  to  live 
together  in  great  harmony.  People  began  to  say  that 
Uncle  John,  who  owned  a  large  tract  of  land  notwith 
standing  his  preference  for  the  life  of  a  recluse,  would 
make  this  nephew  his  heir. 

But  at  length  the  boy  began  to  learn  to  write.  This 
alarmed  the  hermit,  and  he  declined  to  keep  him  any 
longer,  assigning  as  a  reason,  if  the  boy  learned  to 
write,  he  would  write  away  all  his  property.  Lawyers 
all  know  how  to  write. 

Then,  lawyers  are  in  the  way  of  making  money  very 
fast  after  they  once  get  started  in  their  profession. 
Everybody  knows  that  it  is  not  uncommon  for  them  to 
receive  a  thousand,  and  often  several  thousand  dollars 
for  a  single  plea  or  speech.  I  once  entered  the  office 
of  one  of  these  successful  attorneys  in  Pittsburg, 
Penn. ;  and,  as  I  went  in,  he  was  gathering  up  a  handful 
of  bills  which  he  had  just  received  for  a  single  case. 
Said  he,  "  The  law  is  a  profitable  business,  when  a  man 
gets  well  started  in  it."  Not  unfrequently  have  such 
lawyers  as  Daniel  Webster,  Rufus  Choate,  Evarts, 


44  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

Sargent,  and  many  others,  received  the  enormous  sum 
of  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  dollars  for  conducting  a 
single  case. 

It  has  been  truly  said  by  an  eminent  writer,  "  There 
is  no  other  country  where  the  position  of  a  lawyer 
reaches  the  dignity  and  power  which  it  possesses  here. 
He  has  not  here,  in  front  of  him,  an  aristocracy  of 
hereditary  title  or  of  wealth.  If  a  leader  in  his  profes 
sion,  he  is  in  the  front  Himself.  If  his  professional 
pursuits  carry  him,  in  his  career,  beyond  the  investiga 
tion  of  subjects  of  mere  personal  interest,  he  becomes 
versed  in  constitutional  questions,  in  the  principles 
that  guide  the  grandest  civil  interests,  and  the  State 
itself." 

Just  in  proportion  as  he  has  the  power  of  intellect, 
the  eloquence  of  an  orator,  a  profound  thinker,  and  a 
logical  reasoner,  he  assuredly  goes  up  to  the  top  of  the 
ladder,  and  reaches  the  place  where  Daniel  Webster 
said  "  there  is  always  room  enough ; "  to  wit,  "  up 
higher." 

Such  a  legal  man  has  every  field  of  usefulness,  power, 
and  trust  open  before  him  ;  and  he  may  soar  to  the 
highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  Republic. 

But,  while  this  is  the  favored  position  of  the  "  gen 
tleman  of  the  green  bag,"  it  is  vastly  different  with 
doctors  and  clergymen.  The  case  of  the  physician  is 
that  of  a  plodding,  quiet,  useful  life,  usually  saying 
little,  doing  little,  and  being  but  little  known,  save 
only  among  a  few  families,  —  his  patients.  This  is  the 


ME.   TILDEN  AS   A  LAWYER.  45 

general  lot  of  the  doctors  in  medicine.  Occasionally 
(as  there  are  exceptions  to  all  rules)  a  few  of  them 
rise  above  this  general  routine,  which  much  resembles 
the  everlasting  tramp  of  the  old  horse  in  the  tread 
mill  ;  round  and  round,  but  making  no  progress.  A 
surgeon,  an  oculist,  or  perchance  a  medical  practi 
tioner,  may  get  a  few  cases  where  he  receives  a 
respectable  fee,  but  not  to  be  compared  with  those 
of  the  lawyer. 

The  case  of  the  clergyman  is  worse,  so  far  as  money- 
making  is  concerned,  than  that  of  the  doctor;  for,  as 
has  been  just  stated,  the  doctor  does  sometimes  lay 
aside  something  for  a  "  rainy  day."  But  the  preacher 
has  no  means  of  doing  this ;  and  unless,  perchance,  he 
marries  a  rich  wife,  or  falls  into  an  aristocratic  parish, 
that  to  gratify  its  own  pride,  enriches  its  pastor,  he 
must  be  poor.  He  can  be  no  farmer,  mechanic,  broker, 
or  merchant ;  for  that  would  spoil  him  for  a  minister. 
Besides,  he  can  hold  no  office ;  be  president  of  no 
railroad-corporation  at  twenty  thousand  dollars  a  year  ; 
or  collector  of  the  port  of  New  York,  at  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  including  the  pickings ;  or  in  any 
other  lucrative  employment.  All  these  fields  he  is 
debarred  from,  because  he  is  a  clergyman.  All  this,  in 
his  case,  is  but  verifying  what  the  great  apostle  said, 
"  If  in  this  life  only  we  have  hope,  we  are  of  all  men 
most  miserable." 

Mr.  Tilden  well  knew  the  advantageous  position  which 
he  held  for  making  money,  though  up  to  the  close  of  1845 


46  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

lie  had  made  no  special  efforts  in  that  direction.  He 
had  shone  brilliantly  for  a  young  man  in  politics ;  but 
he  now  found,  as  many  others  have,  that  this  "did  not 
pay."  It  was  all  well  enough  in  its  way,  but  it  did  not 
"  keep  the  pot  boiling."  In  a  word,  it  was  all  very  fine, 
or,  as  the  Philadelphia  girls  used  to  say,  splendid ;  but 
resulted  like  the  case  of  a  young  man  who  marries  a 
pretty  girl  because  she  is  pretty,  but  has  no  qualifica 
tion  for  a  good  wife  or  any  thing  else,  save  only  that 
she  is  pretty.  As  the  old  farmer  said,  "  He  soon  finds 
out  that  pretty  won't  support  a  family,  nor  always 
make  a  good  housekeeper." 

Mr.  Tilden  now  in  1846  turned  his  attention  more 
exclusively  to  his  profession.  Perhaps  some  changes 
in  the  political  horizon  aided  him  in  this  change  of 
action.  Silas  Wright  had  been  defeated  in  his  elec 
tion  for  governor  this  fall ;  a  difference  of  opinion  had 
created  a  coolness  between  the  friends  of  Pres.  Polk 
and  the  friends  of  Mr.  Van  Buren ;  and,  in  many 
respects,  the  political  atmosphere  had  assumed  a  very 
different  appearance  from  what  it  had  presented  for 
several  years. 

This  was,  doubtless,  a  fortunate  circumstance  for  Mr. 
Tilden,  as  it  opened  the  way  for  him  more  readily  to 
retire  from  the  political  arena,  and  assume,  or  rather 
resume,  his  professional  business. 

He  well  knew  he  had  the  head,  the  intellect,  to 
make  his  power  felt  as  a  lawyer ;  and  as  his  services 
for  the  public  had  not  been  remunerative,  and  as  he 


MB.   TILDEN  AS   A  LAWYER.  47 

had  no  patrimony  from  his  father,  and  as  he  well  knew 
that  a  pecuniary  independence  was  necessary  for  the 
successful  prosecution  of  a  political  career,  he  took  hold 
of  his  profession  with  energy.  In  a  word,  he  felt  the 
necessity  of  having  money,  and  went  to  work  with  vigor 
and  alacrity  to  make  it  in  his  profession ;  with  what 
success,  the  sequel  will  show.  He  knew  he  possessed 
the  advantages  we  have  ascribed  to  the  lawyer ;  and, 
consequently,  as  long  as  men  would  give  more  for  their 
wills  than  they  would  for  their  souls  and  bodies  both, 

he  knew  the  success  that  awaited  him. 

» 

As  he  had  hitherto  devoted  himself  to  politics,  so 
now  he  did  not  entirely  renounce  his  former  course ; 
but  he  made  his  profession  first,  and  politics  a  second 
ary  consideration. 

Soon  he  became  as  well  known  as  a  lawyer  as  he  had 
been  as  a  politician ;  and  this  was  very  considerable. 

One  of  the  first  prominent  cases  in  which  he  was 
engaged  was  in  a  municipal  election,  one  of  New  York 
in  November,  1855.  Azariah  C.  Flagg  was  one  of  the 
candidates  for  city  comptroller.  A  strong  and  desper 
ate  attempt  was  made  to  defeat  his  election  by  pitting 
against  him  a  popular  mechanic  by  the  name  of  Giles. 
He  was  brought  forward  by  the  so-called  "  Know- 
Nothing,"  or  American  party.  Mr.  Flagg  belonged  to 
the  Democratic  ranks,  and  had  been  known  and  praised 
throughout  the  city  and  the  whole  State  for  the  faithful 
discharge  of  the  public  trusts  that  he  had  received ;  and 
he  was  also  a  friend  and  co-worker  with  Mr.  Tilden. 


48  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

The  candidate  of  the  "Know  Nothings  "  was  a  worthy, 
quiet  man,  against  whose  character  no  charge  of  malfeas 
ance  and  dishonesty  could  be  brought.  He  was  evi 
dently  selected  because  nobody  knew  any  thing 'against 
him,  and  because  the  leaders  or  wire-pullers  supposed 
he  would  be  as  plastic  in  their  hands  as  clay  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  potter.  Who  has  not  known  many  men 
elected  to  important  offices,  with  no  other  recommenda 
tion  save  the  plasticity  by  which  they  could,  or  were  sup 
posed  they  could,  be  modelled  into  any  desirable  shape  ? 

The  great,  tact  and  shrewdness  of  Mr.  Tilden  were 
shown  in  his  management  of  this  case ;  and  no  defender 
of  a  beleaguered  city  was  ever  more  skilful  in  his  de 
fence  than  this  attorney  manifested  for  Mr.  Flagg.  I 
will  give  the  case  briefly  in  the  language  of  another  :  — 

"  The  returns  gave  Mr.  Flagg  the  office  by  a  small 
plurality  of  117,  —  20,313  against  20,134  for  Giles.  His 
opponent  was  to  prosecute  a  quo  warranto  ;  and  Mr. 
Flagg's  title  to  the  office  was  tested  at  a  Supreme  Court 
held  before  Judge  Emott  and  a  special  jury. 

"  The  claimants  seemed  to  have  monopolized  all  the 
proof  attainable,  and  to  have  left  little  or  nothing  for 
the  defence.  Add  to  this,  the  original  canvass  had 
been  made,  as  usual,  upon  distinct  papers  commonly 
called  tallies.  The  split  tally  comprised  three  foolscap 
sheets,  which  contained  the  original  canvass  of  the  split 
votes,  and  transfers  from  the  tally  of  the  regular  vote 
and  the  aggregate  result,  showing  the  number  of  votes 
that  each  candidate  had  received.  The  tally  of  the 


MR.   TILDEN   AS   A  LAWYER.  49 

regular  votes  had  disappeared,  at  least  could  not  be 
produced  ;  and  its  loss  was  accounted  for.  The  papers 
of  split  tallies,  transfers,  and  summaries,  that  were  pro 
duced,  corresponded  with  the  oral  testimony,  and  con 
firmed  the  relator's  theory  of  the  alleged  error  in  the 
return. 

"  Such  was  apparently  the  desperate  attitude  of  the 
comptroller's  case,  when  Mr.  Tilden  was  called  upon 
to  open  for  the  defence.  The  defence,  if  any  could  be 
made,  had  to  be  constructed  upon  the  basis  of  the  testi 
mony  offered  by  the  relator ;  for  other  testimony  there 
was  none.  The  return  showed,  as  the  law  required,  the 
entire  number  of  votes  given  in  the  district ;  and  the 
regular  varieties  of  what  are  called  regular  votes 
appeared  from  the  prosecutor's  own  oral  evidence. 
On  this  slight  basis  of  actual  testimony  Mr.  Tilden 
constructed  an  impregnable  defence.  In  his  opening, 
and  after  reviewing  the  weak  points  in  the  testimony 
of  the  relator  which  he  was  enabled  to  discover  by  the 
light  of  his  midnight  researches,  he,  for  the  first  time, 
gives  an  intimation  to  his  adversaries  of  the  weapon  he 
had  improvised  in  a  night  for  their  destruction. 

"  Before  Mr.  Tilden  took  his  seat,  the  case  was  won, 
and  Mr.  Flagg's  seat  was  assured.  Within  fifteen  min 
utes  after  the  case  was  submitted  to  the  jury,  they 
returned  with  a  verdict  in  his  favor." 

Even  after  his  admission  to  the  bar,  Mr.  Tilden  still 
manifested  a  deep  interest  in  politics ;  and  in  1844,  when 
James  K.  Polk  was  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and 


50  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

Silas  Wright  for  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
he  in  conjunction  with  John  L.  O'Sullivan  started  the 
Democratic  newspaper  called  "  The  Daily  News."  This 
was  really  a  campaign  paper  advocating  the  principles 
of  the  Democracy,  and  the  election  of  Polk  and  Wright 
to  the  offices  just  named. 

Though  this  was  in  the  main  a  new  field  for  Mr.  Til- 
den,  it  being  his  first  editorial  labor,  yet  it  was  in 
reality,  and  in  a  political  point  of  view,  just  that  in 
which  he  had  been  previously  engaged ;  to  wit,  writing 
political  articles.  For  such  a  purpose  the  instruction 
he  had  received  from  his  father  and  the  eminent  polit 
ical  men  with  whom  he  had  mingled,  such  as  Martin 
Van  Buren,  William  L.  Marcy,  Silas  Wright,  and 
others,  had  pre-eminently  qualified  him  for  a  political 
editor.  He  knew  exactly  where  to  begin,  what  to  say, 
and  how  to  end  such  articles.  They  had  a  telling 
effect  upon  the  politics  of  that  day,  and  called  forth 
from  the  whole  Whig  press  severe  and  bitter  criticism  ; 
and,  notwithstanding  the  denunciation  they  received 
from  the  whole  opposing  press,  both  Mr.  Polk  and  Mr. 
Wright  were  elected  to  the  offices  for  which  they  were 
nominated.  Though  his  editorial  career  was  a  success, 
yet  it  was  not  a  long  one ;  and  he  soon  abandoned  it  for 
another  field.  In  1845  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the 
State  Assembly  from  the  city  of  New  York.  Though, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  he  had  long  been  a  prominent, 
powerful,  and  successful  writer  in  the  Democratic  ranks, 
yet  this  was  the  first  public  office  to  which  he  had  been 


MR.   TILDEN   AS   A  LAWYER.  51 

elected  by  his  fellow-citizens.  Coming  as  he  did  from 
the  city  of  New  York,  with  the  dclat  which  accom 
panied  him  from  the  articles  he  had  formerly  written, 
he  soon  took  a  prominent  place  in  the  legislature,  and 
was  looked  upon  as  an  authority  in  all  questions  of 
moment.  In  fact,  he  made  a  permanent  impression 
upon  the  members  of  that  body,  and  stamped  his  image 
and  superscription  upon  every  law  that  was  passed. 

That  legislature  called  a  convention  for  the  purpose 
of  remodelling  the  constitution  of  the  State,  and 
elected  Mr.  Tilden  a  member  of  that  body.  In  this 
convention,  which  commenced  its  session  soon  after  the 
adjournment  of  the  legislature,  Mr.  Tilden  was  as 
conspicuous  as  he  had  been  in  the  assembly.  Indeed, 
he  was  the  leading  star ;  and,  though  one  of  the 
younger  members,  he  was  the  leader  of  that  body. 
He  devised  and  carried  through  all  the  constitutional 
enactments  relating  to  the  finances  of  the  Common 
wealth. 

The  management  of  the  canals  in  the  State  of  New 
York  had  been  one  of  great  importance ;  and  between 
the  conflicting  parties  the  mismanagement  of  their 
finances  had  been  very  conspicuous.  Through  the 
influence  of  Mr.  Tilden,  articles  were  introduced  into 
the  new  Constitution,  providing  for  the  regulation  of 
these  matters,  so  that  the  State  should  be  greatly  bene 
fited  thereby. 

It  may  be  safely  said  that  no  young  man,  the  first 
time  he  became  a  member  of  the  Assembly  or  of  a  Con- 


52  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

vention  to  remodel  the  Constitution  of  a  State,  ever 
exerted  a  wider  influence  than  did  Samuel  J.  Tilden 
in  the  year  1845  upon  the  assembly  of  New  York,  and 
in  the  convention  which  was  selected  that  year  to 
remodel  the  Constitution. 

In  1857  Dr.  Burdell,  a  celebrated  and  wealthy  den 
tist,  was  murdered  in  his  own  house  in  Bond  Street,  New 
York.  A  Mrs.  Cunningham  was  housekeeper  for  the 
doctor  at  the  timje  he  was  murdered.  Suspicion  imme 
diately  rested  upon  her  as  being  either  the  principal  or 
an  accessory  to  the  murder.  Under  an  indictment  thus 
implicating  her,  she  was  tried  and  acquitted. 

Upon  this  acquittal  she  immediately  applied  to  the 
surrogate,  Bradford,  for  letters  of  administration,  and  a 
widow's  third,  on  the  ground  of  a  private  marriage 
with  Burdell  a  little  while  before  his  death.  The  heirs 
of  the  doctor  protested  against  this  claim,  and  retained 
Mr.  Tilden  as  their  attorney  to  combat  it  in  the  courts. 
He  conducted  the  affair  with  signal  ability,  and 
achieved  a  complete  victory  in  favor  of  his  clients. 
This  case  called  forth  all  the  energy  and  acuteness  of 
Mr.  Tilden ;  for  all  the  testimony  was  on  the  side  of 
Mrs.  Cunningham.  They  presented  the  marriage-cer 
tificate,  the  positive  oath  of  the  clergyman  who  sol 
emnized  the  marriage,  and  the  testimony  of  Mrs. 
Cunningham's  daughter  Augusta,  who  was  the  only 
witness  to  the  ceremony,  and  who  subscribed  her  name 
as  a  witness  to  the  marriage-certificate.  There  was  also 
the  testimony  of  the  two  serving-girls  employed  in  the 


MR.   TILDEN   AS   A  LAWYER.  53 

house.  Against  this  array  of  affirmative  evidence,  Mr. 
Tilden  determined  by  a  cross-examination,  believing 
that  that  would  reveal  the  truth,  to  carry  the  one  hun 
dred  and  forty-two  witnesses  through  such  an  ordeal  as 
developed  a  series  of  circumstances  which  struck  the 
mind  of  the  judge  with  irresistible  force,  and  led  to  his 
entire  satisfaction  and  conviction  that  the  pretended 
marriage  had  never  taken  place,  and  was  a  tissue  of 
fabrications  to  obtain  the  property  of  the  murdered 
man.  His  penetration  of  character  on  this  occasion 
was  a  wonder  to  the  court,  and  the  admiration  of  all 
present.  He  not  only  demonstrated  the  falsity  of  the 
pretended  marriage,  but  also  produced  a  general  con 
viction  that  Mrs.  Cunningham  and  her  brood  were  the 
murderers  of  Burdell.  Indeed,  the  case  was  made  so 
clear  that  everybody  said,  had  Tilden  conducted  the 
prosecution  when  she  was  indicted  for  murder,  she 
would  undoubtedly  have  been  convicted. 

Another  case  in  which  Mr.  Tilden  showed  great 
knowledge  and  tact  was  that  of  the  Delaware  and 
Hudson  Canal  Company  against  the  Pennsylvania  Coal 
Company.  The  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company 
had  a  contract  with  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company, 
by  which  among  other  things  it  was  agreed,  in  case  of 
the  enlargement  of  their  canal,  the  coal  company 
should  pay  for  the  use  of  their  canal  extra  toll  equal 
to  such  portion  of  one-half  the  reduction  in  the  ex 
pense  of  transportation  as  might  result  from  such 
enlargement.  In  due  time  the  canal  company  put  in 


54  LIFE  OF   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

their  claim  for  extra  toll.  The  coal  company  denied 
that  the  cost  of  transportation  had  been  reduced,  or 
that  they  had  derived  any  advantage  whatever  from 
the  enlargement.  After  tedious  and  futile  negotiations, 
suit  was  instituted  by  the  canal  company ;  and  Mr.  Til- 
den  was  retained  for  the  defence.  The  case  was  tried 
before  Judge  Hogeboom  of  the  Supreme  Court  sitting 
as  referee.  Seventy-odd  days  were  consumed  in  the 
hearing ;  and  testimony  offered  by  the  plaintiff  fills  sev 
eral  large  printed  volumes.  As  in  the  Flagg  case,  the 
plan  of  the  defence,  as  advised  by  Mr.  Tilden,  was  a 
surprise  both  to  court  and  counsel.  The  sum  claimed 
was  immense,  —  twenty  cents  a  ton  on  an  annual 
transportation  of  six  thousand  tons  a  year  for  ten  years, 
and  in  addition  to  this  a  royalty  of  the  same  amount. 
By  a  calculation  that  took  years  of  labor,  bringing  in 
with  its  just  weight  every  statistic  and  circumstance  of 
canal  navigation,  and  by  the  application  of  the  law  of 
average,  Mr.  Tilden  established  the  fact  against  the 
canal  company  and  against  the  popular  opinion ;  and 
settled  the  fundamental  economic  principles  of  canal 
navigation  for  the  country. 

Among  the  more  important  cases  in  which  Mr.  Til 
den  has  been  concerned,  one  in  which  his  strictly  pro 
fessional  abilities  appeared  to  special  advantage  was  the 
case  of  the  Cumberland  Coal  Company  against  its 
directors,  heard  in  the  State  of  Maryland  in  the  year 
1858.  In  that  case  he  applied  for  the  first  time  to  the 
directors  of  corporations  the  familiar  doctrine  that  a 


MR.   TILDEN   AS   A   LAWYER.  55 

trustee  cannot  be  a  purchaser  of  property  confided  to 
him  for  sale ;  and  he  successfully  illustrated  and  settled 
the  equitable  principle  on  which  such  sales  to  directors 
are  set  aside,  and  also  the  conditions  to  give  them 
validity.  Mr.  Tilden's  success  in  rescuing  corporations 
from  unprofitable  and  embarrassing  litigation,  in  re 
organizing  their  administration,  in  re-establishing  their 
credit,  and  in  rendering  their  resources  available,  soon 
gave  him  an  amount  of  business  which  was  limited  only 
by  his  physical  ability  to  conduct  it. 

Since  the  year  1855,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  more  than 
half  of  the  great  railway  corporations  north  of  the 
Ohio  arid  between  the  Hudson  and  Missouri  Rivers 
have  been  at  some  time  his  clients.  The  general  mis 
fortunes  which  overtook  many  of  these  roads  between 
1855  and  1860  called  for  some  comprehensive  plan  for 
relief.  It  was  here  that  his  legal  attainments,  his 
unsurpassed  skill  as  a  financier,  his  unlimited  capacity 
for  concentrated  labor,  his  constantly  increasing  weight 
of  character  and  personal  influence,  found  full  activity, 
and  resulted  in  the  re-organization  of  the  larger  portion 
of  the  great  network  of  railways,  by  which  the  rights 
of  all  parties  were  equitably  protected,  wasting  litiga 
tion  avoided,  and  a  condition  of  great  depression  and 
despondency  in  railway  property  replaced  by  an  unex 
ampled  prosperity.  His  relations  with  these  companies, 
his  thorough  comprehension  of  their  history  and 
requirements,  and  his  practical  energy  and  decision, 
have  given  him  such  a  mastery  over  all  the  questions 


56  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDTCX. 

that  arise  in  the  organization,  administration,  and  finan 
cial  management  of  canals,  as  well  as  railroads,  that  his 
influence,  more  than  that  of  any  other  man  in  the  coun 
try,  seems  inseparably  associated  with  their  prosperity 
and  success ;  not  only  in  his  own  country,  but  abroad. 
It  is,  we  believe,  an  open  secret,  that  his  transatlantic 
celebrity  brought  to  him  quite  recently  an  invitation 
from  the  European  creditors  of  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railway,  to  undertake  a  reconciliation  of  the  various 
interests  in  that  great  corporation,  which  the  proprieties 
and  duties  of  his  official  position  constrained  him  to 
decline. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ME.   TILDEN  AS   A  REFOEMER. 

Mr.  Tilden  as  an  Honorable  Man.  —  Luther  a  Reformer.  —  Anecdote 
of  Alexander  Pope.  —  Aristocratic  Gathering  at  the  Fifth  Avenue 
Hotel.  —Robert  Collyer's  Boat.  — Mr.  Bristow.  —  The  New  York 
Ring.  — A  Whip-row.  — Progress  of  the  Ring.  — Their  vast  Plun 
der.  —  Mr.  Tilden' s  Plan  for  capturing  the  Ring.  — Mr.  Tilden  again 
in  the  Legislature.  —  Nominated  for  and  elected  Governor.  —  His 
first  Message.  —  His  Objects :  first,  Reform ;  second,  his  Financial 
Policy.  — Description  of  his  Person.  — What  he  achieved. 

WE  now  come  to  a  point  of  the  deepest  interest  in 
Mr.  Tilden's  character.  He  had  become  eminent  in  his 
profession,  and  was  respected  and  honored  everywhere. 
No  whisper  of  dishonesty  had  ever  been  made  against 
him.  His  business  in  his  profession  was  now  immense  ; 
and  he  stood  before  the  world 

"An  honest  man,  the  noblest  work  of  God," 

especially  in  these  days  of  general  swindlings,  defalca 
tion,  and  public  plunderings. 

Reformers  have  arisen  at  various  times  and  among 
diverse  classes.  Luther  thought  to  reform  the  Catholic 
Church  while  in  that  body  in  his  day ;  but  he  soon  found 
it  was  a  hopeless  undertaking,  and  that  it  was  easier  to 


58    -  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

make  a  new  one  ;  reminding  us  of  what  the  postboy  told 
Pope.  The  story  is  familiar  to  most,  but  will  well  bear 
repeating  about  this  time.  The  boy  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  taking  the  great  poet  out  to  ride ;  and  Pope 
was  accustomed,  when  any  thing  came  across  him 
suddenly,  to  say,  "  God  mend  me  !  "  On  one  occasion 
he  asked  the  boy,  how  much  was  to  pay  for  this  ride  ? 
The  boy  named  what  Pope  thought  an  exorbitant  sum, 
and  the -poet  used  his  favorite  expression.  The  boy 
scanned  him  from  head  to  foot,  little,  crooked-backed, 
withered-up  fellow  as  he  was,  and  then  said,  "  I  should 
think  he  could  easier  make  a  new  one  than  to  mend 

you." 

So,  no  doubt,  it  is  sometimes  easier  to  make  a  new 
church,  or  a  new  government,  or  a  new  party,  than  to 
mend  an  old  one. 

In  the  commencement  of  this  centennial  )~ear  of 
grace  1876,  from  some  cause  or  other,  a  general  impres 
sion  seemed  to  pervade  all  classes  in  the  community, 
that  a  REFORM  was  necessary  somewhere  in  the  United 
States. 

Hence  that  anomalous  gathering  was  called  at  the 
Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  in  the  city  of  New  York.  A  gen 
tleman  of  the  Republican  party,  when  the  call  for  that 
remarkable  assemblage  was  made,  wrote  to  one  of  the 
leaders  to  know  more  particularly  what  the  design  of 
the  meeting  was.  He  was  informed  that  it  was  not  to 
be  "  a  mass  meeting,  but  as  far  as  possible  a  representa 
tive  body  ;  "  that  was,  a  Patrician  gathering.  Such  it 


ME.   TILDEN   AS   A  REFORMER.  59 

proved  to  be  in  very  deed  ;  yet  one  of  that  number  had 
the  hardihood  to  say  in  open  meeting,  "  I  would  vote 
for  Gov.  Tilden  for  President."  For  this  charitable 
suggestion,  a  party  paper  in  the  State  of  New  York 
severely  chastised  him,  stating  that,  as  he  lived  in 
Massachusetts,  so  far  away  from  New  York,  he  was 
pardonable  on  account  of  his  ignorance  of  Mr.  Tilden's 
political  manoeuvres  in  the  Empire  State.  That  aristo 
cratic  convention  had  about  as  much  influence  upon 
the  nominations  to  be  made,  either  at  Cincinnati  or  St. 
Louis,  as  an  assembly  of  sparrows  or  a  bevy  of  chick 
adees  would,  to  disperse  a  colony  of  hawks. 

In  the  Greeley  days  the  cry  was,  "Go  West,  go 
West."  The  following  story,  told  by  the  Rev.  Robert 
Collyer  at  the  Bristow  meeting  last  month  in  Chicago, 
gives  advice  to  the  reformers,  which  has  the  true  ring. 
Mr.  Collyer  told  this  story :  "A  great  many  years  ago, 
on  one  of  our  south-western  rivers,  there  was  an  old 
skipper  who  had  a  steamboat  which  was  sailing  in 
shoal  water,  and  got  stuck  in  the  mud.  She  swung 
around  in  the  water  ;  and  there  was  no  chance  to  get  her 
afloat,  do  what  they  would.  He  was  a  terribly  profane 
old  fellow,  and  everybody  knew  it  through  the  country. 
Suddenly  an  idea  struck  him.  He  said  to  one  of  his 
deck-hands,  '  You  go  up  to  the  town,  and  tell  them  I 
have  got  religion,  and  I  want  them  to  come  and  hold  a 
prayer-meeting  on  board.'  The  deck-hand  went  to  the 
town,  and  spread  the  news  around  ;  and  every  one,  being 
interested  in  the  old  skipper's  conversion,  went  down 


60  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

to  hold  the  prayer-meeting.  The  old  man  was  standing 
ready  to  receive  them ;  and,  as  they  came  down,  he 
said  to  every  man,  4  Go  aft ; '  and  they  all  went  aft  until 
the  great  load  was  at  that  end.  They  all  went  aft  until 
there  was  a  great  weight,  and  the  end  which  was  in  the 
mud  got  loose,  and  the  ship  floated  off.  As  soon  as  the 
ship  got  afloat,  the  skipper  said,  '  The  meeting  is  over. 
Jump  ashore  ! '  [Loud  laughter.]  In  our  Republican 
party — I  mean  those  leaders — there  are  men  who  get 
religion  every  time  there  is  going  to  be  an  election. 
[Cheers.]  They  say,  '  Gentlemen,  go  aft,  go  aft.'  And 
we  go  aft.  We  are  a  good-natured  crowd  in  this  coun 
try.  The  best-natured  fellows  anywhere  on  this  planet 
is  a  crowd  of  Americans,  such  as  I  see  before  me  to 
night.  We  are  good  fellows ;  and  we  go  aft,  and  the 
old  ship  floats  again,  and  then  we  jump  ashore.  Now,  I 
don't  mean  to  go  into  that  prayer-meeting  any  more. 
[Cheers  and  laughter.]  I  don't  mean  to  have  any 
thing  more  to  do  with  that  old  skipper.  I  mean  to 
find,  if  I  can,  some  man  who  doesn't  get  religion  once 
in  every  four  years." 

As  Mr.  Collyer  is  understood  to  be  a  versatile  man, 
and  can  readily  change,  either  his  religious  denomina 
tion  or  his  political  party,  the  curious  are  now  anxious 
to  know  which  end  of  th^e  vessel  he  will  be  found  in, 
since  his  friend  Bristow  has  been  banished  from  the 
cabinet  by  the  President,  and  thrown  overboard  by  the 
Cincinnati  Convention  ? 

The  opinion  of  the  writer,  he  not  being  a  politician. 


ME.   TILDEN   AS   A   REFORMER.  61 

would  be  of  little  account  as  respects  the  reformers 
Bristow  and  Tilden:  hence,  instead  of  giving  it,  he 
proposes  to  state  that  of  others.  While  all  classes  admit 
that  Mr.  Bristow  was  a  practical  reformer  while  in  the 
Cabinet,  and  believe  that  he  would  continue  such  had 
he  been  elected  President,  still,  as  that  is  now  out  of 
the  question,  the  Democrats  now  contend  that  they  have 
nominated,  in  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  the  greatest  reformer 
of  the  age,  that  there  is  now  any  possibility  of  placing 
in  the  Executive  chair.  To  demonstrate  this,  they  tell 
us  what  reforms  he  has  already  instituted  and  carried 
through  in  the  State  of  New  York.  A  historian  says,  — 
A  Democratic  and  Republican  ring  had  been  organized 
in  this  State.  It  originated  in  an  act  passed  by  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  1857  in 
connection  with  a  charter  for  the  city  of  New  York, 
providing  that  but  six  persons  should  be  voted  for  by 
each  elector,  and  only  twelve  chosen ;  or,  in  simple  lan 
guage,  that  only  the  nominees  of  the  Republican  and 
Democratic  party  caucuses  should  be  elected.  At  the 
next  session  of  the  legislature,  their  term  of  office  was 
extended  to  six  years;  thus  a  Board  of  Supervisors 
consisting  of  six  Republicans  and  six  Democrats,  to 
change  a  majority  of  which,  it  was  necessary  to  have 
the  control  of  the  primary  meetings  of  both  the  great 
National  and  State  parties  for  a  succession  of  years. 
This  was  a  deeply-laid  and  well-concerted  plan  to  give 
its  projectors  power  and  an  opportunity,  not  only  to 
perpetuate  their  own  offices,  but  also  to  rob  the  city  to 
any  extent  they  pleased. 


62  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

This  was  a  "ring  "  in  a  double  sense  ;  to  wit,  between 
the  six  Democratic  and  the  six  Republican  supervisors. 
In  the  assembly  there  was  a  Republican  majority,  and 
the  half-and-half  supervisors  had  Democratic  officials 
in  the  city.  In  common  parlance  it  was  an  old- 
fashioned  "  whip-row,"  by  which  this  combined  ring 
were  to  manage  and  did  manage  to  swindle  the  city  of 
New  York  out  of  millions  of  dollars. 

This  combination  of  shrewd  and  unprincipled  men 
drew  in  just  enough  influential  men  to  control  the 
organization  of  each  party.  These  men,  who  in  public 
life  pushed  to  extreme  the  abstract  idea  of  their  respec 
tive  parties,  secretly  joined  hands  in  common  schemes 
to  perpetuate  their  personal  power,  and  augment  their 
property.  Gradually  the  ring  transferred  the  seat  of 
its  operations  from  the  city  of  New  York  to  Albany, 
the  capital  of  the  State.  The  lucrative  city  offices, 
subordinate  appointments  which  each  head  of  depart 
ment  could  create  at  pleasure,  with  salaries  in  his  dis 
cretion,  distributed  among  the  friends  of  the  legislators, 
contracts,  money  contributed  by  city  officials,  assessed 
on  their  subordinates,  raised  by  jobs  under  the  depart 
ments,  and  sometimes  taken  from  the  city  treasury, 
were  the  corrupting  agencies  which  shaped  and  con 
trolled  all  legislation.  Year  by  year  the  system  grew 
worse  as  a  governmental  institution,  —  more  powerful 
and  more  audacious.  The  Executive  Department 
swallowed  up  all  the  local  powers,  which  gradually 
became  mere  deputies  of  legislators  at  Albany,  on 


MB.   TILDEX   AS   A  REFORMER.  63 

whom  alone  they  were  dependent.  It  became  com 
pletely  organized  on  the  1st  of  January,  1869 ;  but  its 
power  was  enormously  extended  by  an  act  passed  on 
the  5th  of  April  in  the  following  year,  giving  the 
power  of  local  government  to  a  few  individuals  of  the 
"  ring  "  for  long  periods,  and  freed  from  all  accounta 
bility. 

The  authoritative  record  in  which  Gov.  Tilden  con 
ducted  this  masterly  and  successful  REFORM  is  given 
us  as  follows  by  the  historian  :  — 

"  Within  a  month  after  the  passage  of  this  Tweed 
charter,  the  Board  of  Special  Audit,  one  of  the  fruits 
of  this  Legislature,  were  making  an  order  for  the  pay 
ment  of  over  six  millions  of  money,  of  which  it  is 
now  known  that  scarcely  ten  per  cent  in  value  was 
realized  by  the  city.  Tweed  got  twenty-four  per  cent, 
and  his  agent  Woodward  seven ;  the  brother  of 
Sweeny,  ten ;  Watson,  deputy  collector,  seven ;  thirty- 
three  per  cent  went  to  mechanics  who  furnished  the 
bills,  though  their  share  had  to  suffer  many  abatements ; 
and  twenty  went  to  other  parties.  Over  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  were  sent  to  Albany  to  be 
distributed  among  the  members  of  the  Legislature. 

"  The  percentages  of  theft,  comparatively  moderate 
in  1869,  reached  sixty-six  per  cent  in  1870,  and,  later, 
eighty-five  per  cent. 

"  The  senators  who  voted  on  the  6th  of  April,  18TO, 
with  but  two  dissenting  voices,  to  deprive  our  great 
commercial  metropolis,  with  its  million  of  people,  of  all 


64  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

power  of  self-government,  as  if  it  were  a  conquered 
province  ;  to  confer  upon  Tweed,  Connolly,  Sweeny,  and 
Hall,  for  a  series  of  years,  the  exclusive  power  of  ap 
propriating  all  moneys  raised  by  taxes  or  by  loans,  and 
an  indefinite  power  to  borrow;  who  swayed  all  the 
institutions  of  local  government,  the  local  judiciary, 
and  the  whole  machinery  of  elections,  —  did  not  come 
again  within  reach  of  the  people  until  the  election  of 
the  7 th  of  November,  1871,  when  their  successors  were 
to  be  chosen.  All  hope  of  rescuing  the  city  from  the 
hands  of  the  freebooters  depended  upon  recovering  the 
legislative  power  of  the  State,  in  securing  a  majority 
of  the  senate  and  assembly.  To  this  end  Mr.  Tilden 
directed  all  his  efforts.  In  a  speech  at  the  Cooper 
Union  in  New  York,  he  stated  Mr.  Tweed's  plan,  which 
was,  to  carry  the  senatorial  representation  from  that 
city,  and  then  re-elect  eight,  and  if  possible  twelve,  of 
the  Republican  senators  from  the  rural  districts  whom 
he  had  bought  and  paid  for  the  previous  year,  and  thus 
control  all  the  legislation  that  might  be  presented  there 
which  involved  his  freebooting  dynasty." 

A  party  in  power  is  naturally  disposed  to  risk  the 
continuance  of  abuses,  rather  than  hazard  the  extreme 
remedy  of  "  cutting  them  out  by  the  roots."  The 
executive  power  of  the  State,  and  all  its  recently  en 
larged  official  patronage,  were  exerted  against  the  latter 
policy.  And  since  the  contest  of  1869  the  "  ring  " 
had  studied  to  extend  its  influence  in  the  rural  dis 
tricts,  and  had  showered  legislative  favors  as  if  they 


MR.   TILDEN  AS   A  REFORMER.  65 

were  ordinary  patronage.  But  fortune  favors  the  brave. 
Without  an  office  or  a  dollar's  worth  of  patronage 
in  city  or  State  to  confer,  Mr.  Tilden  planted  him 
self  on  the  traditions  of  the  elders,  on  the  moral  sense 
and  forces  of  Democracy,  and  upon  the  invincibility  of 
truth  and  right.  That  undaunted  faith  in  the  harmony 
of  truth  and  its  irreconcilability  with  error,  which  we 
have  found  sustaining  him  at  the  bar,  and  carrying  him 
from  victory  to  victory  against  more  desperate  odds, 
sustained  him  here.  As  always  happens  to  those  who 
battle  for  the  right,  Providence  came  to  his  aid.  The 
thieves  fell  out,  and  one  of  their  number  betrayed 
them.  A  clerk  in  the  comptroller's  office  copied  a 
series  of  entries,  afterwards  known  as  "secret  ac 
counts,"  and  handed  them  to  the  press  for  publication. 
They  showed  the  dates  and  amounts  of  certain  pay 
ments  made  by  the  comptroller,  the  enormous  amounts 
of  which,  compared  with  the  times  and  purposes  of  the 
payments  and  the  recurrence  of  the  same  names, 
awakened  suspicions  that  they  were  the  memorials  of 
the  grossest  frauds.  Mr.  Tilden  soon  became  satisfied 
of  this,  from  the  futility  of  the  answers  received  from 
city  officers  when  questioned  about  them,  and  from 
other  sources,  and  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  city 
had  been  the  victim  of  frauds  far  transcending  any 
thing  ever  suspected.  He  immediately  formed  his  plan, 
for  the  execution  of  which,  as  it  involved  the  control 
of  the  approaching  State  Convention,  the  co-operation 
of  several  leading  Democrats  was  first  secured.  He 


66  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

accepted  an  arrangement  by  which  he  was  to  be  sent 
to  the  convention  from  his  native  district,  Columbia 
County,  which  had  always  during  the  "  ring  "  ascend 
ency  afforded  him  that  opportunity  of  being  heard. 

Early  in  September  he  issued  a  letter  to  some 
seventy-six  thousand  Democrats,  reviewing  the  situa 
tion,  and  calling  upon  them  "to  take  a  knife,  and  cut 
the  cancer  out  by  the  roots."  But,  before  the  meeting 
of  the  convention,  an  event  happened  which  could  not 
have  been  foreseen,  but  which  was  pregnant  with  the 
most  important  consequences. 

To  the  eternal  honor  of  the  Democratic  party  of  the 
city  and  State,  on  the  issue  thus  made  up  by  Mr.  Til- 
den  they  gave  him  their  cordial  and  irresistible  support. 
The  result  was  overwhelming,  and  not  only  changed 
the  city  representation  in  the  legislative  bodies  of  the 
State,  but  in  its  moral  effect  crushed  the  "  ring." 

Mr.  Tilden  was  one  of  the  delegates  chosen  to 
represent  the  city  in  the  next  legislature.  In  deference 
to  the  views  of  his  principal  coadjutors,  Mr.  Tilden 
devoted  the  six-weeks'  interval  between  his  election 
and  the  meeting  of  the  legislature  to  the  prosecution 
of  its  investigation  in  the  city  departments,  and  in 
preparing  the  vast  mass  of  accurate  information  which 
was  the  basis  of  nearly  all  the  judicial  proofs  that  have 
since  been  employed  successfully  in  bringing  the  mem 
bers  of  the  "  ring "  to  justice,  or  driving  them  into 
exile. 

Mr.    Tilden   gave    his    chief    attention,    during   the 


MB.   TILDEN   AS   A  REFORMER.  67 

session  of  the  legislature,  to  the  promotion  of  those 
objects  for  which  he  consented  to  go  there,  —  the  re 
form  of  the  judiciary,  and  the  impeachment  of  the 
creatures  who  had  acquired  the  control  of  it  under  the 
Tweed  dynasty. 

Mr.  Tilden  had  thus  by  his  bold  acts  made  himself 
prominent  in  the  work  of  reform,  and  recognized  as 
the  man  to  lead  in  the  State.  Prominent  friends  of 
reform  urged  him  to  accept  the  nomination  for  gover 
nor.  They  said  he  could  be  nominated  without  diffi 
culty,  and  elected  triumphantly ;  and  in  his  triumph  the 
great  cause  of  administrative  reform  would  receive  an 
impulse  which  would  propagate  it  not  only  over  the 
whole  State,  but  over  the  Union. 

Mr.  Tilden  ultimately  consented  to  take  the  nomina 
tion  for  governor,  his  objections  to  which  were  over 
come  by  a  single  consideration.  It  was  the  only  way 
in  which,  he  could  satisfactorily  demonstrate  that  a 
course  of  fearless  and  persistent  resistance  to  wrong 
will  be  vindicated  and  sustained  by  the  masses  of  the 
people ;  that  honesty  and  courage  are  as  serviceable 
qualities,  and  as  well  rewarded  in  politics,  as  in  any 
other  profession  or  pursuit  in  life.  He  was  unwilling 
to  leave  it  in  the  power  of  the  enemies  of  reform,  to 
say  that  he  dared  not  submit  his  conduct  as  a  reformer 
to  the  judgment  of  the  people  ;  to  say  that  his  course 
had  ruined  his  influence ;  that  his  name  should  be  a 
warning  to  the  rising  politicians  of  the  country  against 
following  his  example.  He  felt  that,  whatever  might 


68  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

be  the  result  of  his  administration,  the  moral  effect  of 
his  election  would  be  advantageous,  not  only  in  his 
own  State,  but  throughout  the  country.  But  for  these 
considerations,  Mr.  Tilden  would  have  allowed  himself 
to  be  made  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party  for 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  a  position  more  con 
genial  to  his  tastes,  and  for  which  his  personal  prefer 
ences  were  well  known. 

He  was  nominated  and  elected ;  and  whatever  lessons 
or  eloquence  could  be  expressed  in  big  majorities  were 
not  wanting  to  lend  their  eclat  to  his  triumph.  Mr. 
Tilden's  plurality  over  John  A.  Dix,  the  Republican 
candidate,  was  53,315.  Mr.  Dix  had  been  elected  two 
years  previously  by  a  plurality  of  53,451. 

The  first  message  of  Gov.  Tilden  foreshadowed  with 
distinctness  the  controlling  features  of  his  administra 
tion. 

First,  Reform  in  the  administration. 

Second,  The  restoration  of  the  financial  principles 
and  policy  which  triumphed  in  the  election  of  Jackson 
and  Van  Buren,  and  which  left  the  country  without  a 
dollar  of  indebtedness  in  the  world,  and  a  credit  abroad 
with  which  no  other  nation  could  then  compete. 

In  furtherance  of  his  policy  of  administrative  reform, 
he  recommended  a  revision  of  the  laws  intended  to  pro 
vide  criminal  punishment  and  civil  remedies  for  frauds 
by  public  officers  and  by  persons  acting  in  complicity 
with  them.  These  recommendations,  during  the  same 
session  carefully  wrought  into  the  legislation  of  the 


ME.   TILDEN   AS   A  REFORMER.  69 

State,  bore  especially  upon  those  forms  of  administra 
tive  abuse  which  the  exposure  and  arrest  of  William 
M.  Tweed  had  recently  revealed,  and  also  upon  another 
and  kindred  class  of  abuses  in  the  management  of  our 
canals,  with  which  the  governor  was  already  acquainted, 
but  of  which  the  public  as  yet  had  only  an  imperfect 
realization. 

But  the  feature  of  the  message  which  produced,  per 
haps,  the  most  profound  impression,  not  only  upon  his 
own  immediate  constituents,  but  upon  the  whole  nation, 
was  that  which  related  to  the  financial  policy  of  the 
Federal  Government.  A  generation  had  grown  up 
who  had  never  seen  or  used  any  other  money  than  a 
printed  promise  of  the  Government ;  and  it  had  become 
a  wide-spread  conviction  among  the  aspiring  politicians 
of  both  the  great  parties,  that  the  current  public  opinion 
in  favor  of  an  inflated  and  irredeemable  currency  would 
overwhelm  and  destroy  any  public  man  who  would 
attempt  to  stem  it.  No  convention  of  either  party  in 
any  State  of  the  Union  had  ventured  the  experiment : 
the  active  leaders  of  both  had  either  avoided  or  yielded 
to  the  current.  Mr.  Tilden  deemed  it  his  duty  to  lose 
no  time  in  advocating  the  only  financial  policy  which 
ever  had  insured  or  can  insure  a  substantial  and  endur 
ing  national  prosperity. 

On  the  19th  of  March,  and  as  soon  as  he  had  secured 
from  the  legislature  such  additional  remedies  for  official 
delinquencies  as  were  requisite  for  his  purpose,  the 
governor  in  a  special  message  invited  the  attention  of 
the  legislature  to  the  management  of  the  canals. 


70  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

He  pointed  out  in  this  communication,  with  consider 
able  detail,  the  fraudulent  processes  by  which  for  an 
indefinite  period  of  years  the  State  had  been  plundered, 
its  agents  debauched,  its  politics  demoralized,  and  its 
credit  imperilled.  The  fulness,  boldness,  and  direct 
ness  of  his  statements,  produced  a  profound  impression, 
not  only  throughout  the  State,  but  throughout  the 
country. 

The  legislature,  though  containing  in  both  branches 
many  of  the  most  notorious  canal-jobbers,  and  consti 
tuted  largely  in  that  interest,  was  obliged  to  yield  to 
the  irresistible  public  sentiment  which  the  governor's 
policy  and  message  had  awakened,  and  granted  him  the 
authority  to  name  such  a  commission.  The  results  of 
the  investigations  communicated  to  him  from  time  to 
time  during  the  summer  of  1875,  and  to  the  succeeding 
legislature  of  1876,  arrested  completely  the  system  of 
fraudulent  expenditure  on  the  canals,  which  he  had 
denounced  at  the  bar  of  public  opinion. 

Through  the  adoption  of  various  other  financial 
measures  upon  his  recommendation,  and  by  the  discreet 
but  vigorous  exercise  of  the  veto-power,  the  governor 
was  fortunate  enough  to  secure  a  reduction  of  the  State 
tax,  the  first  year  of  his  administration,  about  seven 
teen  per  cent ;  and  to  inaugurate  a  financial  policy  by 
which  the  State  tax,  which  was  seven  and  one-half  mills 
on  the  dollar  of  the  assessed  valuation  when  he  came 
into  office,  will  be  reduced  to  four  mills  at  least  at  the 
expiration  of  his  term  of  two  years,  and  at  the  expira- 


MR.    TILDEN   AS    A   REFORMER.  71 

tion  of  the  next  succeeding  year  to  not  exceeding  three 
mills. 

Mr.  Tilden  is  now  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age. 
He  is  five  feet  ten  inches  in  height ;  and  he  has  what 
physiologists  call  the  purely  nervous  temperament,  with 
its  usual  accompaniment  of  spare  figure,  blue  eyes,  and 
fair  complexion.  His  hair,  originally  chestnut,  is  now 
partially  silvered  with  age. 

At  the  Utica  Convention  resolutions  were  passed, 
presenting  his  name  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency, 
and  requesting  the  delegates  to  vote  as  a  unit. 

The  Democrats  claim,  and  the  Republicans  generally 
acknowledge,  that  Gov.  Tilden,  with  the  aid  of  Charles 
O' Conor  and  a  few  others  of  both  the  Democratic 
and  Republican  parties,  achieved  one  of  the  greatest 
victories,  and  overthrew  the  most  corrupt  ring,  that 
ever  existed  in  any  civilized  country.  Indeed,  so  thor 
oughly  was  the  triumph  of  law,  justice,  and  equity, 
over  fraud,  deceit,  theft,  that  the  swindling  ring  was 
not  only  thoroughly  routed,  but  its  fat  and  sleek  and 
lordly  boasters  were  compelled  to  disgorge  their  "  wages 
of  unrighteousness,"  and  take  their  flight ;  whither  to 
Canada,  Botany  Bay,  or  London,  with  Winslow,  no  man 
knoweth  unto  this  day. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  DEFENCE. 

Accusers  brought  to  face  Each  Other.  —  Mr.  Tilden's  own  Statement. 

—  He  is  not  responsible  for  the  Controversy  with  the  "Times" 
Newspaper.  —  The  Committee  of    the  Bar  Association.  —  He  did 
not  withhold  Credit  from  "  The  Times."  —  Mr.  Tilden's  Relations 
to  Mayor  Havemeyer.  —  His    Speech  at  the  Cooper  Institute.  — 
The  Occasion  of  the  Exposition.  — Quotations  from  "  The  Times." 

—  Mr.  Tilden's  Description  of  the  Origin  of  the  Ring.  —  Its  Har 
mony  with  the  Account  given  by  Others.  —  The  Period  of  the 
Ring-Power.  —  Formative  Period. — Mr.  Tilden  assumes  the  Lead 
of  the  Democratic  State  Organization.  —  His  Speech  in  the  Circuit 
Court. 

IN  the  last  chapter  has  been  recorded  the  great  and 
chief  reformatory  work  of  Mr.  Tilden.  The  record 
there  given  has  been  the  one  generally  received  and 
believed  to  be  correct  by  the  public.  A  partisan  paper, 
"  The  New  York  Times,"  however,  made  a  strenuous 
effort,  by  maintaining  that  Mr.  Tilden  stood  aloof  from 
that  reform,  and  took  no  active  part  in  it  until  well 
assured  that  the  ring  would  be  destroyed,  and  the 
ringleaders  brought  to  justice ;  and  that,  when  this  had 
become  a  foregone  conclusion,  then,  Mr.  Tilden  came  to 
the  rescue. 

72 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  DEFENCE.  73 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  reader,  that,  in  Gov.  Tilden's 
defence  against  the  aspersions  in  "  The  Times,"  some 
of  the  same  facts  are  repeated  that  were  stated  in  the 
last  chapter.  This  has  been  done  to-  show  that  the 
origin  of  the  "ring  "  and  its  progress  are  fully  "  estab 
lished  in  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses."  Nor 
is  this  of  small  moment ;  for,  if  the  "  Times'  "  state 
ment  is  correct,  then  Mr.  Tilden  is  far  from  having 
been  the  reformer  that  he  has  been  represented  to  have 
been.  But  if  he  is  to  be  credited,  as  a  man  of  truth, 
and  the  sources  from  which  the  facts  in  the  last  chapter 
were  derived  were  reliable,  then  he  is  entitled  to  the 
credit  of  having  been  one  of  the  greatest  REFORMERS 
of  the  age. 

Now,  as  it  was  the  custom  of  the  -Romans  not  to 
condemn  any  man  until  he  and  his  accusers  had  been 
brought  face  to  face,  and  as  even  in  the  Jewish  San 
hedrim  the  following  pertinent  question  was  asked  : 
"  Doth  our  law  judge  any  man  before  it  iaear  him  ?  " 
so,  before  Mr.  Tilden  should  "be  stripped  of  the  honor 
and  prominent  part  which  he  took  in  that  great 
REFORM,  he  should  be  iieard  in  his  own  defence.  The 
following  is  Mr.  Tilden's  statement  in  Ms  own  lan 
guage  :  — 

"  If  one  were  to  attempt  to  correct  every  ordinary 
error  concerning  himself  which  appears  in  print,  the 
occasions  of  controversy  would  be  inconveniently  fre 
quent  for  the  avocations  of  a  busy  life.  It  is,  therefore, 


74  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

only  in  a  very  exceptional  case  that  I  should  depart 
from  my  habit  of  leaving  such  errors  to  answer  them 
selves,  or  to  be  refuted  by  my  acts,  or  by  the  general 
tenor  of  my  life.  But  articles  in  '  The  Times  '  for 
several  weeks  past  so  falsify  the  history  of  the  events 
they  discuss,  by  perverting  some  facts  and  suppressing 
others,  that  it  is  a  right,  and  perhaps  a  duty,  to  vindi 
cate  the  truth. 

"  I  begin  by  saying  that  I  am  in  no  manner  or 
degree  responsible  for  this  controversy.  I  have  been 
concerned  in  no  attempt  to  appropriate  to  myself,  or  to 
any  set  of  men,  or  to  any  party,  the  merit  of  having 
overthrown  the  '  ring.' 

"As  credit  with  the  public  was  no  part  of  my 
motives,  but  only  a  sense  of  duty,  founded  on  the  idea 
that  every  personal  power  is  a  trust,  I  have  felt  no 
sacrifice  in  awarding  the  most  liberal  honors  of  the 
victory  to  others. 

"  The  Committee  of  the  Bar  Association  will  remem 
ber,  that,  when  they  came  to  Albany  with  their  memo 
rial,  the  winning  policy  I  indicated  was  to  do  the 
work,  bear  the  burdens,  and  bestow  on  others  the 
honors.  That  policy,  and  the  persistent  forcing  of 
the  issue,  in  the  glare  of  a  vehement  public  opinion, 
stimulated  by  the  nearly  united  metropolitan  press,  did 
much  to  carry  impeachment,  by  four  votes  to  one, 
over  corruptions  and  combinations,  in  a  body  which 
4  The  Times '  has  characterized  as  venal,  and  in 
which  nearly  every  reform  failed.  Even  after  the  work 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  DEFENCE.  75 

was  completed,  and  the  Bar  Association  met  to  dis 
tribute  honors,  I  stood  among  its  members,  not  to  take 
any  share  to  myself,  but  to  join  in  a  well-merited  tribute 
of  thanks  to  Messrs.  Van  Cott,  Parsons,  and  Stickney. 
I  believe  those  gentlemen  would  avow  that  there  was 
no  time  before  the  final  vote  in  the  assembly,  when, 
without  my  individual  co-operation,  they  would  have 
hoped  for  success,  which  needed  to  be  organized  anew 
after  every  reverse. 

"  Nor  is  it  true  that  I  was  at  all  disposed  to  withhold 
credit  from  4  The  Times  '  for  its  services  in  the  con 
flict.  Its  statement  that  Mr.  Hewitt's  '  civil  word  ' 
was  the  first  it  had  received  from  any  Democrat,  is 
disproved  by  my  printed  speeches  ;  and  when  the 
project  —  afterwards  abandoned  for  the  best  motives  — 
was  entertained  of  offering  it  a  public  testimonial,  I 
was  applied  to  by  its  friends  to  join,  and  assented. 

"INSPIRATION    OF    ATTACKS    ON   ME. 


is  the  inspiration  of  its  attacks  upon  me 
during  the  last  month,  I  was  too  much  out  of  contact 
with  all  sources  of  information  in  current  politics  to  be 
able  to  ascertain.  Could  it  be  that  its  watchful  rivals 
had  discovered  a  morbid  spot  on  which  they  delighted 
to  put  their  fingers,  had  found  they  had  only  to  mention 
with  commendation  a  co-worker  of  the  fight,  in  order 
to  provoke  a  column  of  detraction  ?  I  waited.  At 
last  came  an  article  ascribing  to  me  a  plan  to  control 
Mayor  Havemeyer  ;  characterizing  me  as  4  one  of  the 


76  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

most  active  intriguers  of  the  day ; '  as  attempting,  c  by 
underhand  devices,  to  cheat  the  Republicans  out  of 
the  fruit  of  their  victory ; '  and  ascribing  to  me  '  labori 
ous  stratagems,'  '  wonderful  mines  and  countermines.' 
It  asserted  of  me,  '  He  has  now  hatched  another  mag 
nificent  device,  and  very  likely  supposes  that  the  mayor 
will  lend  himself  to  it.'  It  then  added,  '  The  legisla 
ture  will  do  nothing  of  the  kind.'  And  it  concluded, 
'  If  a  party  victory  is  to  be  claimed,  we  claim  it  in 
behalf  of  the  Republican  party.'' 

"  Next  comes  a  proposed  charter,  containing  most  of 
the  worst  features  of  the  present,  denying  Mayor  Have- 
meyer  all  substantial  power  over  the  workings  of  the 
City  Government,  of  which  he  is  the  nominal  head ; 
putting  him  under  guardians  in  the  exercise  of  the 
scanty  authority  doled  out  to  him ;  and  vesting  most 
of  the  governmental  power  and  the  real  influence  in 
executive  offices  with  long  terms,  practically  appointed 
by  bill  at  Albany. 

"MAYOR   HAVEMEYER. 

"  Then  appears  another  column  full  of  similar  allega 
tions  respecting  me,  and  of  what  purport  to  be  state 
ments  of  facts.  Among  them  is  this :  '  He  is  said  to 
have  great  influence  over  Mayor  Havemeyer,  and  to  be 
working  hard  to  drag  the  mayor  into  his  great  reconstruc 
tion  schemes.  Do  we  owe  it  to  his  influence,  that  the 
mayor  voted  for  Charles  Shaw  as  counsel  to  the  Board 
of  Health  ? ' 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  DEFENCE.  77 

"  Now,  in  the  whole  of  this  mass  of  statement,  so  far 
as  it  relates  to  me,  there  is  not  a  single  atom  of  truth. 
I  have  not  seen  Mr.  Havemeyer  since  December,  nor 
at  any  time  since  his  election,  except  when  I  met  him 
on  the  street,  or  he  called  on  me  to  ask  my  opinion  on 
some  question.  I  have  not  recommended  or  suggested 
to  him  any  human  being  for  an  office,  or  any  benefit 
within  his  gift.  I  do  not  mean  to  intimate  that  there 
would  have  been  any  thing  improper  in  doing  so,  but 
simply  to  state  the  fact  as  it  is.  I  have  not  sought  to 
influence  Mr.  Havemeyer  in  any  thing  whatsoever.  If 
my  opinion  would  have  any  weight  with  him,  or  on 
any  occasion  would  be  asked  by  him,  it  is  because  in 
almost  thirty  years  of  mutual  knowledge  he  has  looked 
into  my  mind  and  heart,  and  in  no  instance  has  seen 
any  thing  which  was  not  frank,  true,  disinterested,  and 
patriotic.  He  knows  that  if  I  had  the  power,  which  I 
do  not  pretend  to  have,  I  would  not  deflect  him  one 
hair's-breadth  from  the  line  of  fidelity  to  his  peculiar 
trust  as  a  non-partisan  representative  of  municipal 
reform,  for  the  advantage  of  any  party,  clique,  or  man. 
If  he  had  occasion  to  seek  my  aid  or  counsel,  he  would 
begin  by  apologizing  for  troubling  me,  so  well  does  he 
know  that  my  thoughts  and  tastes  turn  to  other  objects, 
when  inclination  is  not  overcome  by  a  sense  of  duty. 
As  to  Mr.  Charles  P.  Shaw,  I  do  not  believe  that  I 
should  know  that  gentleman  if  I  were  to  meet  him ; 
and  I  never  heard  his  name  mentioned  in  connection 
with  any  appointment  until  I  read  of  his  being  voted 


78  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

for  as  counsel  to  the  Board  of  Health,  by  Mr.  Have- 
meyer. 

"  '  The  Times '  not  only  assumes  to  state  with  abso 
lute  positiveness  my  plans  and  thoughts,  but  also  my 
arguments  to  Republicans,  and  my  whispers  to  my 
friends.  There  is  not  one  word  of  truth  in  all  these 
statements.  I  have  not  had  any  plans  of  reconstruct 
ing  the  Democratic  party  of  the  city,  by  any  aid  of 
patronage  from  Mayor  Havemeyer.  I  do  desire  that 
the  organization  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  of  all 
parties,  should  be  in  the  hands  of  a  better  class  of  men 
than  of  late  years  have  controlled  them.  In  my 
speeches  during  the  last  two  years,  I  have  constantly 
urged  the  idea,  that,  without  more  attention  by  our  best 
men  to  their  respective  party  organizations,  good  gov 
ernment,  especially  in  a  great  city  like  this,  is  impos 
sible.  All  my  friends  know  how  great  is  my  repugnance 
to  an  active  personal  connection  with  city  politics,  even 
in  a  temporary  and  exceptional  period.  After  sixteen 
months  of  engrossing  occupation,  in  the  various  con 
troversies  which  grew  out  of  the  municipal  frauds,  and 
the  reform  in  the  judiciary,  I  consider  the  work  I 
undertook,  so  far  as  within  my  power,  to  be  substan 
tially  accomplished.  Except  in  such  matters  as  con 
cerned  that  work,  from  the  day  of  the  election,  I  have 
been  totally  withdrawn  from  political  action  or  thought. 
In  that,  I  am  still  ready  to  co-operate  as  well  as  in  any 
new  legislation  necessary  for  the  city.  But  my  atten 
tion  has  been  occupied  in  repairing  the  long  neglect  of 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  DEFENCE.  79 

my  private  affairs,  and  in  getting  ready  to  execute  a 
purpose  which,  for  some  years,  has  been  perfectly 
settled,  and  which  no  vicissitude  in  State  or  National 
politics  could  have  changed.  This  is  a  period  of  relax 
ation  in  which  to  renovate  my  health  by  repose  and 
travel.  The  purpose,  and  the  motive  for  which  I  have 
deferred  it  for  two  years,  were  stated  in  the  following 
passage  from  my  speech  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  Nov. 
2,  1871,  as  it  is  reported  in  '  The  Evening  Post :  '  — 

"  '  For  myself,  I  would  gladly  have  escaped  the  burden 
that  has  fallen  upon  me.  I  would  have  preferred  to 
pass  next  year  and  this  winter  abroad,  to  have  some 
repose  after  twenty  years  of  incessant  labor  in  my  pro 
fession.  It  was  because  I  could  not  reconcile  myself 
to  consent  that  this  condition  of  things  should  exist 
without  redress,  that  I  deemed  it  my  duty,  before  I 
should  finally  withdraw  from  public  affairs,  to  make  a 
campaign,  to  follow  where  any  would  dare  to  lead,  to 
lead  where  any  would  dare  to  follow,  in  behalf  of  the 
ancient  and  glorious  principles  of  American  free  gov 
ernment. 

" '  And  by  the  blessing  of  God,  according  to  the 
strength  that  is  given  to  me,  if  you  will  not  grow 
weary  and  faint,  and  falter  on  the  way,  I  will  stand  by 
your  side  until  not  only  civil  government  shall  be 
reformed  in  the  city  of  New  York,  but  until  the  State 
of  New  York  shall  once  more  have  a  pure  and  irre 
proachable  judiciary,  and  until  the  example  of  this 


80  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES    TILDEN. 

great  State  shall  be  set  up  to  be  followed  by  all  the 
other  States. 

"OCCASION   OF   THIS   EXPOSITION. 

"  I  have  deemed  this  exposition  due  to  Mr.  Havemeyer, 
to  the  Committee  of  Seventy,  and  the  other  honorable 
citizens  who  are  striving  for  good  legislation  at  Albany. 
It  is  called  for  by  the  elaborate  and  studied  attempt  to 
alarm  the  party  passions  of  the  Republicans  by  ascrib 
ing  to  me  acts  and  purposes  which  I  have  never  enter 
tained  ;  and  to  excuse  to  the  consciences  of  men  who 
have  some  hesitating  sense  of  duty,  the  continuance 
and  renewal  of  the  system  of  disposing  of  the  great 
trusts  of  this  city  by  secret  arrangements,  carried  out 
by  artfully  worded  legislation  at  Albany,  which  is 
generally  obtained  by  dividing  up  offices  as  bribes  ;  of 
denying  the  people  of  this  city  any  voice  in  their  own 
government,  by  rendering  elections  nugatory ;  and  even 
refusing  to  the  non-partisan  reformer  Mayor  Havemeyer 
any  power  over  the  government  he  is  set  to  reform. 
And  I  now  declare,  that  in  all  the  long  diatribes  of 
4  The  Times,'  so  far  as  they  relate  to  me,  my  plans, 
designs,  purposes,  or  acts,  in  respect  to  Mayor  Have 
meyer,  there  is  not  one  word  of  truth. 

"  Having  resolved  to  depict  me  as  the  Mephistopheles 
whose  influence  over  Mayor  Havemeyer  was  to  alarm 
the  Republicans  into  seizing  away  from  him  the  legiti 
mate  powers  of  his  office,  '  The  Times  '  states  a  variety 
of  pretended  facts  illustrative  of  its  theory. 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  DEFENCE.  81 

"  In  its  latest  article,  it  says,  '  Mr.  Tilden  having 
very  carefully  held  aloof  from  the  contest,  and  system 
atically  thrown  cold  water  upon  it,  until  he  saw  it  was 
practically  over,'  '  he  went  about  declaring  that  "  The 
Times"  would  be  beaten,  that  Mr.  Tweed  "carried 
too  many  guns  for  us." 

"  The  truth  is,  I  never  '  declared '  and  never  said  any 
such  thing,  or  any  thing  similar,  to  any  human  being. 

"  Nor  did  I  '  systematically  '  or  at  any  time  '  throw 
cold  water '  on  the  contest.  How  early  I  took  part  in 
it,  will  be  discussed  hereafter. 

"  It  is  not  true  that  I  had  any  connection  with  the 
Cincinnati  nominations.  The  statement  that  no  one 
has  been  able  4  to  extract  from  me  a  dime  towards  ' 
the  Greeley  statue,  is  equally  unfounded.  I  was  never 
asked  but  once,  and  made  a  subscription  on  the  spot 
without  a  word  of  objection. 

"  I  mention  these  cases  as  specimens  of  the  loose  state 
ments  affirmed  as  positive  facts  with  which  these  arti 
cles  abound.  I  submit  to  the  gentlemen  who  manage 
4  The  Times,'  that  they  go  beyond  the  license  of  legiti 
mate  controversy. 

"  Having  now  disposed  of  these  preliminary  matters,  I 
proceed  to  reply  to  the  substantial  allegations  contained 
in  the  numerous  articles  of  4  The  Times.' 

"  They  are  embodied  in  the  following  specimen  ex 
tracts  :  — 

"  '  Mr.  Tilden  took  no  part  in  the  'battle  with  the  ring.'' 

"  4  The  public  will  never  forget,  that,  in  the  greatest 


82  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

battle  ever  fought  with  organized  corruption  in  this 
country,  the  old  Democratic  leaders  of  New  York  had 
not  the  courage  or  honesty  to  strike  a  blow.' 

" '  In  ALL  that  bitter  contest,  when  at  times  it  seemed 
as  though  this  journal  ["  The  Times  "]  would  be  over 
whelmed  by  its  enemies,  or  at  least  severely  injured  by 
their  machinations,  we  never  had  a  word  of  open  encour 
agement  or  an  act  of  assistance  from  the  ancient  chiefs 
of  the  Democracy.' 

"  '  Mr.  Tilden  came  in  only  after  the  ring  was  down.' 

"  '  They  denounced  when  it  was  no  longer  dangerous 
to  denounce.  Their  indignation  concerning  the  ring 
was  edifying,  AFTER  the  ring  was  DOWN.' 

" '  Mr.  Tilden  came  with  his  advice  when  it  was  very 
easy  to  give  it ;  and  the  other  leaders  hastened  to  run 
from  the  sinking  ship.' 

.  "  '  Mr.  Tilden  was  shrewd  enough  to  see,  that,  unless 
a  section  of  the  Democratic  party  cut  loose  from  Tam 
many,  the  whole  party  must  inevitably  go  under  with 
Tammany.  He  cut  loose  in  the  very  nick  of  time,  to 
save  his  own  reputation.' 

"  '  HE  THROWS  MUD  ON  THE  GRAVE  OF  THE  RING. 

"  '  Just  at  present  it  is  a  comparatively  comfortable 
thing  for  Mr.  Tilden  to  throw  mud  on  the  grave  of  the 
Tammany  Ring.  Capturing  the  comptrollership  from 
the  ring  for  the  reform  movement,  wasn't  his,  and 
was  but  a  trifle.  Mr.  Tilden's  coup  d'etat  was  not 
peculiarly  Mr.  Tilden's,  and  was  any  thing  but  a  won 
derful  coup.9 


83 


"  '  MR.    TILDEN   DID   NOT   COLLECT   PROOFS. 

" 4  We  cannot,  however,  agree  with  Mr.  Hewitt,  that 
to  Mr.  Tilden  is  due  the  credit  of  proving  charges 
vaguely  made.' 

"  '  TIME  OP  TRIAL. 

"  '  But  there  was  a  time,  we  beg  leave  to  remind  these 
outspoken  denouncers  of  the  ring,  when  to  attack 
Tweed  or  Connolly  meant  to  attack  an  enormous  and 
powerful  interest,  a  gigantic  corruption,  backed  by  all 
the  power  of  the  Democratic  party.  Office  and  endow 
ment  and  honor  were  on  the  side  of  the  successful 
scoundrels ;  every  possible  promise  of  money  and  place 
was  held  out  to  those  who  would  support  them ;  and 
those  who  opposed  them  had  to  bear  a  cutting  storm  of 
reproach  and  obloquy.' 

"'MB.    TILDEN,   WITH  MB.   O'CONOR  AND   MB.   HEWITT, 
SEEMED   TO   COVER  THE  RING. 

" c  In  those  days,  respectable  gentlemen  leading  the 
Democratic  party,  like  Mr.  Hewitt  and  Mr.  Tilden, 
though  despising,  from  the  bottom  of  their  hearts,  the 
thieves  in  high  places,  and  believing  them  thorough 
swindlers,  yet  never  ventured  to  utter  a  word  against 
them  in  public.  In  fact,  to  the  distant  public,  their 
respectability  covered  the  ring's  rascality.  Mr.  Tilden, 
Mr.  O' Conor,  and  others  like  them,  appeared  the 
pillars  of  Tammany  Hall.' 


84  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

"'"THE   TIMES"    THE   ELDER   SOLDIER. 

" '  Our  daily  incessant  attacks  upon  Tammany  began 
in  the  summer  of  1870.  It  was  not  until  a  year  later, 
that  Mr.  Tilden,  or  any  leading  Democrat,  could  be 
induced  to  lift  a  finger  or  utter  a  word  against  Tweed 
and  his  confederates.' 

"'MR.   TLLDEN  BACKWARD  AND   TIMID. 

"  '  Mr.  Tilden  was  throughout  this  period  as  quiet  as 
a  mouse  ;  or,  if  he  did  appear  anywhere  in  public,  it  was 
generally  in  a  position  which  led  people  to  suppose  that 
he  was  on  the  side  of  the  Tweed  gang.  .  He  presided 
over  their  convention  at  Rochester  in  September,  1870. 

"  '  We  never  questioned  the  fact  that  Mr.  Tilden  all 
this  time  in  his  heart  detested  the  Tammany  gang ;  but 
he  took  care  never  to  say  so.' 

"  « LAST  COMPLAINT. 

" '  He  came  over  to  our  side,  and  then  did  his  best  to 
keep  up  appearances  for  the  Democratic  party.' 

"  '  Mr.  Tilden  generally  manages  to  save  himself  by 
these  somersaults  at  the  eleventh  hour.' 

"  '  When  a  crafty  man  is  plotting  to  do  you  some 
injury,  he  generally  becomes  your  accuser,  and  charges 
you  with  devising  the  very  mischief  he  is  preparing  to 
launch  at  your  head.  Thus  Mr.  Tilden  and  his  friends 
are  already  complaining  of  the  rapacity  of  the  Repub 
licans,' 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  DEFENCE.  85 


"  ORIGIN  OF   THE  RING. 

"  The  '  ring '  had  its  origin  in  the  Board. of  Super 
visors.  That  body  was  created  by  an  act  passed  in 
1857,  in  connection  with  the  charter  of  that  year.  The 
act  provided  that  but  six  persons  should  be  voted  for 
by  each  elector,  and  twelve  should  be  chosen.  In  other 
words,  the  nominees  of  the  Republican  and  Democratic 
party  caucuses  should  be  elected.  At  the  next  session, 
the  term  was  extended  to  six  years.  So  we  had  a  body 
composed  of  six  Republicans  and  six  Democrats,  to 
change  a  majority  of  which  you  must  control  the  pri 
maries  of  both  of  the  great  National  and  State  parties 
for  four  years  in  succession.  Not  an  easy  job,  certainly  ! 
The  individual  man  has  little  enough  of  influence  when 
you  allow  him  some  chance  of  determining  between  two 
parties,  some  possibility  of  converting  the  minority  into 
a  majority.  This  scheme  took  away  that  little.  It  also 
invited  the  managers  of  the  primaries  to  do  as  badly  as 
possible,  by  removing  all  restraints. 

"  It  is  but  just  to  say  that  the  Democracy  are  not 
responsible  for  this  sort  of  statesmanship,  which  con 
siders  the  equal  division  of  official  emoluments  more 
important  than  the  administration  of  official  trusts  or 
the  well-being  of  the  governed.  In  the  assembly  of 
1857,  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  members,  the 
Democracy  had  but  thirty-seven  ;  of  thirty-two  senators, 
it  had  but  four ;  and  had  not  the  governor.  In  the 
thirteen  years  from  1857  to  1869,  it  never  had  a 


86  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

majority  in  the  senate,  in  the  assembly  but  once ;  and 
had  the  Governor  but  once  up  to  1869.  The  Repub 
licans  had  -the  legislative  power  of  the  State  in  all  that 
period,  as  they  and  their  Whig  predecessors  had  pos 
sessed  it  for  the  previous  ten  years. 

"  The  ring  was  doubly  a  c  ring.'  It  was  a  ring 
between  the  six  Republican  and  the  six  Democratic 
supervisors.  It  soon  grew  to  a  ring  between  the  Re 
publican  majority  in  Albany  and  the  half-and-half 
supervisors,  and  a  few  Democratic  officials  of  this  city. 

"  The  very  definition  of  a  '  ring'  is,  that  it  encircles 
enough  influential  men  in  the  organization  of  each 
party  to  control  the  action  of  both  party  machines,  — 
men  who  in  public  push  to  extremes  the  abstract  ideas 
of  their  respective  parties,  while  they  secretly  join  their 
hands  in  schemes  for  personal  power  and  profitv 

"  The  Republican  partners  had  the  superior  power. 
They  could  create  such  institutions  as  the  Board  of 
Supervisors,  and  could  abolish  them  at  will.  They 
could  extinguish  offices,  and  substitute  others ;  change 
the  laws  which  fix  their  duration,  functions,  and  respon 
sibilities,  and  nearly  always  could  invoke  the  executive 
power  of  removal.  The  Democratic  members,  who  in 
some  city  offices  represented  the  firm  to  the  supposed 
prejudices  of  a  local  Democratic  majority,  were  under 
the  necessity  of  submitting  to  whatever  terms  the 
Albany  legislators  imposed  ;  and  at  length  found 
out  by  experience,  what  they  had  not  intellect  to 
foresee,  that  all  real  power  was  in  Albany.  They 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  DEFENCE.  87 

began  to  go  there  in  person  to  share  it.  The  lucrative 
city  offices,  subordinate  appointments,  which  each  head 
of  department  could  create  at  pleasure,  with  salaries 
in  his  discretion,  distributed  among  the  friends  of  the 
legislators,  contracts,  money  contributed  by  city  officials 
assessed  on  their  subordinates,  raised  by  jobs  under 
the  departments,  and  sometimes  taken  from  the  city 
treasury,  were  the  pabulum  of  corrupt  influence  which 
shaped  and  controlled  all  legislation.  Every  year 
the  system  grew  worse  as  a  governmental  institution, 
and  became  more  powerful  and  more  corrupt.  The 
executive  departments  gradually  swallowed  up  all  local 
powers,  and  themselves  were  mere  deputies  of  legisla 
tors  at  Albany,  on  whom  alone  they  were  dependent. 
The  mayor  and  common  council  ceased  to  have  much 
legal  authority,  and  lost  all  practical  influence.  There 
was  nobody  to  represent  the  people  of  the  city ;  there 
was  no  discussion,  there  was  no  publicity.  Cunning 
and  deceptive  provisions  of  law,  concocted  in  the 
secrecy  of  the  departments,  commissions,  and  bureaus, 
agreed  upon  in  the  lobbies  at  Albany,  between  the 
city  officials  and  the  legislators  or  their  go-betweens, 
appeared  on  the  statute-book  after  every  session.  In 
this  manner  all  institutions  of  government,  all  taxa 
tion,  all  appropriations  of  money  for  our  million  of 
people,  were  formed.  For  many  years  there  was  no 
time  when  a  vote  at  a  city  election  would  in  any  prac 
tical  degree  or  manner  affect  the  city  government. 


88  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

"  PERIOD   OF   RING  POWER. 

"  The  '  ring  '  became  completely  organized  and  ma 
tured  on  the  1st  of  January,  1869,  when  Mr.  A.  Oakey 
Hall  became  mayor.  Mr.  Connolly  was  comptroller 
two  years  earlier. 

"  Its  power  had  already  become  great ;  but  was  as 
nothing  compared  with  what  it  acquired  on  the  5th 
of  April,  1870,  by  an  act  which  was  a  mere  legislative 
grant  of  the  offices,  giving  the  powers  of  local  govern 
ment  to  individuals  of  the  '  ring,'  for  long  periods, 
and  freed  from  all  accountability,  as  if  their  names  had 
been  mentioned  as  grantees  in  the  bill. 

ults  duration  was  through  1869,  1870,  and  1871,  until 
its  overthrow  at  the  election  of  November,  when  it  Lost 
most  of  the  senators  and  assembly-men  from  this  city, 
and  was  shaken  in  its  hold  on  the  legislative  power  of 
the  State. 

"  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  first  date  in  the  list  of 
county  warrants  bearing  indications  of  fraud,  pub 
lished  by  '  The  Times '  in  the  last  of  July,  1871,  is 
Jan.  11,  1869.  Of  the  $11,250,000  embraced  in  these 
accounts,  13,800,000  were  in  1869  ;  $880,000  in  1870, 
before  April  5  ;  $6,250,000  in  1870,  after  that  date  ; 
and  $323,000  in  1871.  The  thorough  investigation 
made  by  Mr.  Taintor,  at  my  instance,  shows  the  aggre 
gate  vastly  larger,  but  does  not  much  alter  the  propor 
tions,  except  in  1871.  The  periods  of  power  and 
plunder  are  coincident  in  time  and  magnitude. 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  DEFENCE.  89 

"FORMATIVE  PERIOD. 

"  Even  before  the  '  ring  '  came  into  organized^  exist 
ence,  the  antagonism  between  those  who  afterwards 
became  its  most  leading  members,  and  myself,  was 
sharply  defined  and  public.  It  originated  in  no  motive 
of  a  personal  nature  on  my  part,  but  in  the  incompati 
bility  of  their  and  my  ideas  of  public  duty.  I  dis 
trusted  them.  They  knew  they  could  not  deceive  or 
seduce  me  into  any  deviation  from  my  principles  of 
action.  As  early  as  1863,  some  of  them  became  deeply 
imbittered,  because,  being  summoned  by  Gov.  Seymour 
to  a  consultation  about  the  Broadway  Railroad  Bill,  I 
advised  him  to  veto  it. 

"  Some  years  afterwards  I  accepted  the  lead  of  the 
Democratic  State  organization.  I  did  so  with  extreme 
reluctance,  and  only  after  having  in  vain  tried  to  place 
it  in  hands  in  which  I  could  have  confidence.  I  had 
seen  the  fearful  decay  of  civic  morals  incident  to  the 
fluctuating  values  of  paper  money  and  civil  war.  I 
had  heard  and  believed  that  the  influence  of  the  Re 
publican  party  organization  had  been  habitually  sold 
in  the  lobbies,  sometimes  in  the  guise  of  counsel  fees, 
and  sometimes  without  any  affectation  of  decency.  I 
had  left  the  assembly  and  constitutional  convention  in 
1846,  when  corruption  in  the  legislative  bodies  of  this 
State  was  totally  unknown,  and  now  was  convinced 
that  it  had  become  almost  universal.  I  desired  to  save 
from  degradation  the  great  party  whose  principles  and 


90  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

traditions  were  mine  by  inheritance  and  conviction, 
and  to  make  it  an  instrument  of  a  reaction  in  the 
community  which  alone  could  save  free  government. 
Holding  wearily  the  end  of  a  rope,  because  I  feared 
where  it  might  go  if  I  dropped  it,  I  kept  the  State 
organization  in  absolute  independence.  I  never  took  a 
favor  of  any  sort  from  these  men,  or  any  man  I  dis 
trusted.  I  had  not  much  power  in  the  legislature  on 
questions  which  interested  private  cupidity ;  but  in  a 
State  convention,  where  the  best  men  in  society  and 
business  would  go,  because  it  was  for  but  a  day  or  two, 
those  with  whom  I  acted  generally  had  the  majority. 

"  1869. 

"  I  had  no  more  knowledge  or  grounds  of  suspicion  of 
the  frauds  of  1869,  as  they  were  discovered  three  years 
afterwards,  than  '  The  Times  '  or  the  general  public ; 
but  I  had  no  faith  in  the  men  who  became  known  as 
the  '  ring,'  and  they  feared  me.  I  had  no  personal 
animosity  ;  but  I  never  conciliated  them,  and  I  never 
turned  from  what  I  thought  right,  to  avoid  a  collision. 

"  The  first  impulse  of  their  growing  ambition  and 
increasing  power  was  to  get  rid  of  me,  and  possess 
themselves  of  the  Democratic  State  organization. 
Their  intrigue  for  this  purpose  was  conceived  and 
agreed  upon  in  the  winter,  at  Albany.  I  knew  it,  but 
I  did  nothing  till  August.  Then  I  accepted  the  issue  ; 
and  they  were  defeated  by  seven-eighths  of  the  con 
vention.  The  country  papers  of  the  Republican  party 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  DEFENCE.  91 

were  full  of  the  subject.  The  files  of  '  The  Times  ' 
show  that  the  contest  attracted  public  attention.  That 
these  men  and  I  were  not  in  accord,  was  known  wher 
ever  in  the  United  States  there  was  the  least  informa 
tion  on  such  subjects. 

44  This  year  was  marked  by  the  saturnalia  of  injunc 
tions  and  receiverships. 

"  In  April  and  May,  in  speeches  in  the  Circuit  Court 
of  the  United  States  I  denounced  the  orders  granted 
by  Barnard  to  Fisk  against  the  Pacific  Railroad  Com 
pany,  as  perversions  of  the  instruments  of  justice,  bear 
ing  on  their  face  bad  faith.  I  had  reason  to  believe 
that  Tweed  was  a  partner  in  this  freebooting  specula 
tion,  and  his  son  was  Barnard's  receiver.  The  contest 
excited  universal  attention.  My  motive  in  taking  the 
case,  with  great  inconvenience  to  more  important 
business,  was  the  abhorrence  I  felt  of  the  prostitution 
of  judicial  power  which  touched  the  rights  and  inter 
ests  and  honor  of  every  man  in  the  community ;  and 
the  consideration,  that,  on  being  applied  to  by  the 
company  in  its  extremity,  I  had  advised  that  the  orders 
in  Barnard's  court,  for  the  seven  months  previous,  were 
nullities ;  and  the  acceptance  of  that  advice  seemed  to 
impose  on  me  the  obligation  to  maintain  it,  as  was  done 
successfully. 

"  I  declined  retainers  from  Fisk  in  matters  involving 
no  scandal,  but  in  which  he  had  not  my  sympathy,  after 
he  had  informed  me  that  he  had  paid  a  counsel,  during 
the  year,  many  times  the  largest  fee  I  had  ever  received, 
adding,  '  We  don't  want  anybody  else  :  we  want  you.' 


92  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

"  My  open  denunciations  of  the  judicial  abuses  so 
frequent  at  this  time,  and  the  general  support  I  had 
received  from  the  country  delegates,  I  have  always 
believed  to  be  the  origin  of  the  reaction  by  which, 
instead  of  a  third  subject  for  impeachment,  Judge 
Brady  was  nominated. 

"  In  December  I  signed  the  call  for  the  meeting  at 
which  the  Bar  Association  was  formed.  At  that  meet 
ing,  on  the  1st  of  February,  upon  being  called  on,  I 
gave  utliBrance  to  my  unpremeditated  thoughts  in  words 
which  stand,  without  any  change,  as  they  were  reported 
in  the  official  proceedings  of  that  body.  They  were 
generally  deemed  to  breathe  a  tone  of  defiant  independ 
ence.  Among  those  thoughts  were  these  :  — 

"  '  If  the  bar  is  to  become  merely  a  mode  of  making 
money,  making  it  in  the  most  convenient  way  possible, 
but  making  it  at  all  hazards,  then  the  bar  is  degraded. 
If  the  bar  is  merely  an  institution  that  seeks  to  win 
cases,  and  win  them  by  back-door  access  to  the  judi 
ciary,  then  it  is  not  only  degraded,  but  corrupt.'  " 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ME.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD  CONTINUED,  IN  WHICH  HE 
FURTHER  CONFIRMS  THAT  OF  THE  HISTORIAN. 

Contest  of  1870. —The  Sham.  —  Opposition.  —  The  Conflict.  —  The 
Real  Nature  of  the  Law.  —  Illustration.  —  The  Means.  —  Who 
Betrayed  the  City.  —  Immediate  Consequences.  —  The  Summer  of 
1870. —Court  of  Appeals. —Winter  of  1871. —  School  System.— 
Code  Amendments.  —  Contest  of  1871.  —  Strong  Position  of  the 
Ring  in  the  City.  —  Mr.  Tilden's  Speech  at  the  Cooper  Institute 
in  1871.  —  Crisis  of  the  Contest.  —  Pivot  of  the  Contest.  —  Ring 
Plan  of  the  Campaign.  —  Mr.  Tilden's  Plan  of  the  Campaign. — 
How  to  Overthrow  the  Ring  in  the  Popular  Vote  of  the  City.  — 
The  time  when  Mr.  Tilden  acted. —  Mr.  Kernan.  —  Mr.  Oswald 
Ottendorf er.  —  Mr.  O'  Conor.  —  Other  Preparations.  —  Substitu 
tion  of  Mr.  Green  for  Mr.  Connolly  in  the  Comptrollership.  — 
Efforts  of  the  Ring  to  recover  Possession.  —  State  Convention.  — 
Other  Action.  —  Broadway  Bank  Investigations. — Mr.  Tilden's 
Speech  at  Cooper  Institute.  —  Democratic  Reform  Vote  in  the 
City.  —  Further  Collection  of  Proofs.  —  Judicial  Reform.  —  Con 
clusion.  —  Remarks  by  the  Compiler. 

FOR  the  first  time  in  four  and  twenty  years,  the 
Democrats  had,  in  1870,  the  law-making  power.  They 
had  in  the  senate  just  one  vote,  and  in  the  assembly 
seven  votes,  more  than  were  necessary  to  pass  a  bill,  if 
so  rare  a  thing  should  happen  as  that  every  member 
was  present,  and  all  should  agree. 


94  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

This  result  brought  more  dismay  than  joy  to  the 
"  ring."  They  had  intrenched  themselves  against  the 
people  of  this  city  in  the  legislative  bodies.  But  the 
Democratic  party  was  bound  by  countless  pledges  to 
restore  local  government  to  the  voting  power  of  the 
people  of  the  city.  The  "ring"  could  trade  in  the 
lobbies  at  Albany,  or  with  the  half-and-half  supervisors 
in  the  mysterious  chambers  of  that  Board.  They  might 
even  risk  a  popular  vote  on  mayor,  if  secure  in  the 
departments  which  had  all  the  patronage,  and  could 
usually  elect  their  own  candidate.  But  they  had  no 
stomach  for  a  free  fight  over  the  whole  government,  at 
a  separate  election. 

Their  motives  were  obvious,  on  a  general  view  of 
their  human  nature.  None  but  the  "  ring  "  then  knew 
that,  in  the  secret  recesses  of  the  supervisors  and  other 
similar  bureaus,  were  hid  ten  millions  of  bills  largely 
fraudulent,  and  that,  in  the  perspective,  were  eighteen 
other  millions,  nearly  all  fraudulent. 

THE  SHAM. 

A  sham  was  necessary  to  the  "  ring."  Moral  support 
was  necessary  to  sustain  their  imposture.  None  of  the 
"  ring  "  ever  came  near  me  ;  but  Mr.  Nathaniel  Sands 
often  called  to  talk  over  city  reform.  He  sometimes 
brought  my  honored  and  esteemed  friend,  Mr.  Peter 
Cooper.  They  were  convinced  that  the  "  ring "  had 
become  conservative,  —  were  not  ambitious  of  more 
wealth,  were  on  the  side  of  the  tax-payers.  There  was 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  95 

thought  to  be  great  peril  as  to  who  might  come  in, 
in  case  the  "  ring "  should  be  turned  out.  I  told  Mr. 
Sands  I  would  shelter  no  sham.  I  would  co-operate 
with  anybody  for  a  good  charter.  The  light  and  air 
of  heaven  must  be  let  in  upon  the  stagnant  darkness 
of  the  city  administration.  The  men  to  come  into 
office  must  enter  after  a  vote  of  the  people.  I  did  not 
believe  the  "  ring  "  would  agree  to  that.  I  would  agree 
to  nothing  else. 

The  "  ring "  did  not  want  any  conference  with  me. 
They  tried  their  own  plan.  It  failed  ignominiously. 
After  it  was  defeated,  none  were  so  poor  as  to  do  it 
reverence. 

It  never  had  the  slightest  chance  of  revival  without 
a  general  support  of  the  Republicans.  Not  only  were 
three  Democratic  city  senators  against  it,  but  enough 
Democratic  senators  from  the  country  would  vote 
against  it,  if  their  vote  could  be  made  effective. 

OPPOSITION. 

During  the  lull,  I  had  conferences  with  Mr.  Jackson 
S.  Schultz,  then  president  of  the  Union  League  Club, 
Mr.  Nordhoff  of  "  The  Post,"  Mr.  Greeley  of  "  The  Tri 
bune,"  Mr.  Marble  of  "  The  World,"  and  many  others. 
I  entered  into  no  alliance  with  the  "  young  Democracy  " 
for  future  political  power,  and  for  weeks  was  ignorant 
even  of  their  meetings.  I  did  accept  from  Mr.  Marble 
two  invitations  to  attend  consultations  on  a  draft  of  a 
charter;  and  certain  fundamental  ideas,  on  which  he 


96  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES    TILDEN. 

and  I  insisted,  were  conceded.  These  were,  a  separate 
municipal  election  in  each  spring,  a  new  election  before 
the  executive  offices  should  be  filled,  the  subjection  of 
all  officers  to  a  practical  responsibility,  and  terms  of 
office  which  should  preserve  to  each  successive  mayor 
his  supervisory  powers  over  the  government  of  which 
he  is  the  head.  These  ideas  were  concurred  in  by  the 
Union  League  Club,  and  by  the  other  gentlemen  I  have 
mentioned. 

THE    CONFLICT. 

Suddenly  a  charter  was  sprung  by  Mr.  Tweed,  and 
rushed  forward  very  fast. 

I  was  convinced  it  would  pass.  A  clerk  in  one  of 
the  public  offices  came  privately  to  tell  me  "  the  stuff 
had  been  sent  up."  There  was  a  movement  to  resist  it. 
Mr.  Schultz,'  Mr.  Bailey,  and  others  were  in  motion. 
The  Union  League  Club  appointed  a  committee  of  fif 
teen  to  go  to  Albany  to  remonstrate.  My  co-operation 
was  asked.  I  had  little  hope.  I  expected  a  large 
Republican  support  of  Mr.  Tweed's  scheme ;  -but  I 
thought  it  right  to  do  the  utmost  for  those  who  were 
willing  to  make  an  effort.  I  felt  more  scorn  than  I 
ever  remember  to  have  felt  for  the  pusillanimity  which 
characterized  the  hour.  I  had  no  objection  to  hang 
up  my  solitary  protest  against  the  crime  about  to  be 
committed.  I  made  a  speech  before  Mr.  Tweed  and 
his  committee  of  the  senate.  An  unre vised  report  was 
published  at  the  time.  It  contains  the  following  pas 
sages  :  — 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  97 

"  By  the  first  appointment  of  these  various  offices, 
self-government  in  the  people  of  the  city  of  New  York 
is  in  abeyance  for  from  four  to  eight  years.  Sir,  by 
that  bill,  the  appointment  of  all  these  offices  is  to  be 
made  by  a  gentleman  now  in  office.  It  is  precisely  as 
if  in  the  bill  it  had  read :  4  Not  that  the  mayor  shall 
make  these  appointments,  but  the  INDIVIDUAL  who 
to-day  fills  that  office.'  The  act  proceeds  in  the  same 
way  in  which  the  acts  creating  commissions  have  done. 
A  gentleman  is  designated  who  makes  these  appoint 
ments.  To  all  practical  intents  and  purposes,  THEY  ARE 
COMMISSIONERS  just  as  under  the  old  system.  Under 
the  Republican  system  of  commissioners,  the  Street 
Department  and  the  Croton  Board  have  been  reserved 
to  the  control  of  the  city  authorities.  They  stand  as 
under  the  old  system  anterior  to  the  time  when  these 
Commissions  began  to  be  formed.  The  mayor  has  no 
power  over  these  functionaries,  except  to  impeach 
them ;  and  all  experience  has  shown  that  that  is  a 
dilatory  and  insufficient  resource,  not  to  be  relied  on  in 
the  ordinary  administration  of  the  government.  On 
the  31st  December,  by  the  provisions  of  this  bill,  the 
term  of  the  mayor's  office  will  expire.  Then,  sir,  what 
will  be  the  situation  of  his  successor  ?  For  two  years 
he  will  have  no  power  whatever  over  the  administration 
of  the  government  of  which  he  is  the  nominal  head. 
All  these  functionaries  survive  him.  THEIR  terms  go 
beyond  his  term ;  and  he  has  not  the  power  to  remove 
them,  not  the  power  to  enforce  any  practical  responsi- 


98  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

lility  as  against  them.  He  is  a  mere  cipher.  Then, 
sir,  at  the  end  of  two  years,  another  election  takes  place, 
another  mayor  is  elected.  Still  these  officers  extend 
their  terms  clear  beyond  his,  the  shortest  of  them  being 
for  four  years,  and  the  longest  of  them  for  eight  years, 
many  of  them  for  live.  This  charter  is  defective  in 
another  respect,  in  that  it  makes  the  election  of  charter 
officers  coincident  with  that  of  the  State  and  Federal 
officers.  The  municipal  election  of  a  million  people  is 
of  sufficient  importance  to  be  dealt  with  by  itself ;  and 
by  so  doing  you  avoid  mixing  up  municipal  interests  with 
State  and  National  interests.  What  I  object  to  in  this 
bill  is,  that  you  have  a  mayor  without  any  executive 
power  ;  you  have  a  legislature  without  legislative  power ; 
you  have  elections  without  any  power  in  the  people  to 
affect  the  government  for  the  period  during  which  these 
officers  are  appointed.  It  is  not  a  popular  government, 
it  is  not  a  responsible  government :  it  is  a  government 
beyond  the  control,  and  independent  of  the  will,  of  the 
people.  That  the  mayor  should  have  real  and  sub 
stantial  power,  is  the  theory  we  have  been  discussing 
for  the  last  four  or  five  years.  It  is  the  theory  upon 
which  we  have  carried  on  our  controversies  against 
our  adversaries,  and  are  now  here.  After  a  period  of 
twenty  years,  for  the  first  time  the  party  to  which  I 
belong  possesses  all  the  powers  of  the  government.  I 
have  a  strong  and  anxious  desire  that  it  should  make 
for  the  city  of  New  York  a  government  popular  in  its 
form.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  not  afraid  of  the  stormy 


ME.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  99 

sea  of  popular  liberty.  I  still  trust  the  people.  We, 
no  doubt,  have  fallen  upon  evil  times.  We,  no  doubt, 
have  had  many  occasions  for  distrust  and  alarm ;  but 
I  still  believe,  that,  in  the  activity  generated  by  the  effec 
tual  participation  of  the  people  in  the  administration  of 
the  government,  you  would  have  more  purity  and  more 
safety  than  under  the  system  to  which  we  have  been 
accustomed.  It  is  in  the  stagnation  of  bureaus  and 
commissions,  that  evils  and  abuses  are  generated.  The 
storms  that  disturb  the  atmosphere  clear  and  purify  it. 
It  will  be  so  in  politics  and  municipal  administrations, 
if  we  will  only  trust  the  people." 

The  bill  passed.  An  intenser  animosity  than  was 
excited  against  me  in  the  men  who  thus  grasped  an 
irresponsible  despotism  over  this  city,  cannot  be  im 
agined.  Mr.  Tweed  threatened  to  Lieut.-Gov.  Beach, 
that  they  would  depose  me  from  the  State  Committee  ; 
and  met  the  answer,  "  You  had  better  try  it." 

REAL  NATURE   OF  THE   LAW. 

Let  us  pause  a  moment  to  consider  the  real  character 
of  that  law  fraudulently  called  a  city  charter.  Mr. 
Tweed's  case  will  illustrate  its  operation.  He  had 
never  been  able  to  become  street  Commissioner.  Charles 
G.  Cornell  was  appointed  to  that  office  by  a  Republican 
mayor,  and  Mr.  Tweed  made  deputy.  When  the  office 
became  vacant,  Mayor  Hoffman  could  not  be  induced 
to  appoint  Mr.  Tweed.  George  W.  McLean  was  ap 
pointed,  and  Mr.  Tweed  remained  deputy.  He  had 


100  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

now  been  turned  out  as  deputy,  and  could  not  get 
back.  On  the  loss  of  his  office,  all  his  political  power 
turned  to  dust  and  ashes. 

The  Tweed  charter  vacated  the  office  of  street  Com 
missioner,  and  of  the  functionaries  of  the  Croton  depart 
ment,  within  five  days,  vesting  all  their  powers  in  a 
Commissioner  of  Public  Works ;  and  required  Mr.  A.. 
Oakey  Hall  to  appoint  that  Commissioner.  It  was 
known  to  everybody  that  Mr.  Tweed  was  to  ba 
appointed.  The  act  passed  on  the  5th  ;  and  on  the  9th 
Mr.  Tweed  was  appointed.  His  term  was  four  years. 
The  power  of  the  governor  to  remove  him  on  charges 
was  repealed,  and  all  powers  of  removal  by  the  city 
government.  Impeachment  was  restricted  by  the  con 
dition  that  the  mayor  alone  could  prefer  charges,  and 
trial  could  only  be  had  if  every  one  of  the  six  judges 
of  the  Common  Pleas  was  present. 

ILLUSTEATION. 

In  ancient  times  offices  were  conferred  by  grant  from 
the  sovereign.  This  was  conferred  by  grant  from  the 
State. 

Let  us  suppose  the  act  had  run  in  these  words :  — 
"  We  the  people  of  the  State  of  New  York,  repre 
sented  in  Senate  and  Assembly,  do  by  our  supreme  legis 
lative  authority  hereby  grant  to  William  M.  Tweed 
the  office  of  Commissioner  of  public  works ;  and  annex 
thereto,  in  addition  to  the  powers  heretofore  held  by  the 
street  commissioner,  all  the  powers  heretofore  held  by 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  "'  101 


the  various  officers  of  the  Croton  department';  to  have  and 
to  hold  the  same  for  four  years,  with  the  privilege  of  ex 
tending  the  term  by  surrendering  any  remnant  thereof, 
and  receiving  a  re-appointment  for  a  further  new  term 
of  four  years ;  which  office  shall  be  free  and  discharged 
of  the  power  of  the  Governor  to  remove  for  cause  on 
charges,  as  in  the  case  of  Sheriffs,  and  of  all  power  of 
removal  by  the  City  Government ;  and  absolutely  of  all 
accountability  whatsoever,  unless  Mayor  Hall  or  some 
successor  shall  choose  to  prefer  articles  of  impeachment 
to  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  unless  all  the  six 
judges  shall  attend  to  try  such  articles." 

I  aver  that  such  was  exactly  the  operation  of  that  act. 
The  legal  effect  and  the  practical  working  of  the  act 
were  identically  the  same  as  if  it  had  been  expressed  in 
these  words. 

THE  RING  ENTHRONED   OVER   THE  CITY. 

In  like  manner,  the  offices  of  three  of  the  five  heads 
of  the  Parks  were  granted  for  five  years  to  Peter  B. 
Sweeney,  Thomas  C.  Fields,  and  Henry  Hilton,  giving 
them  the  control  of  the  Central  Park  and  every  park  in 
the  city,  and  of  the  boulevards  ;  suppressing  Mr.  Green, 
and  removing  Messrs.  Stebbins,  Russell,  and  Blatchford. 
The  office  of  chamberlain  was  granted  to  Mr.  John  J. 
Bradley.  The  department  of  police  was  granted  from 
five  to  eight  years  to  Messrs.  Henry  Smith,  B.  F.  Ma- 
mere,  Bosworth,  and  Brennan.  The  departments  of 
health,  fire,  excise,  charities,  docks,  and  buildings 


102  LIFE  OF   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

were  granted  to  others.  By  an  amendment  passed 
twenty  days  later,  Mr.  Connolly  and  Mr.  O'Gorman 
were  brought  into  the  same  category. 

Such  a  concentration  of  powers  over  this  city  was 
never  before  held  by  any  set  of  men  or  any  party  as 
was  thus  vested  in  the  "  Ring." 

The  true  character  of  this  fraudulent  measure  was 
at  once  fully  exposed.  The  issue  was  made  by  Messrs. 
Schultz,  Bailey,  Varnum,  Greeley,  and  others,  and  by 
the  Union  League  Club.  All  the  features  of  the  act 
were  pointed  out  in  their  resolutions,  and  remonstrated 
;  against.  They  were  discussed,  condemned,  and  de 
nounced  in  my  speech  published  at  the  time.  They 
were  ably  exposed  by  "  The  World,"  "  The  Evening 
Post,"  "  The  Sun,"  and  "  The  Tribune." 

THE  MEANS. 

It  would  seem  incredible  that  such  a  violation  of  the 
rights  of  the  people  and  of  all  just  ideas  of  government, 
even  if  these  extraordinary  grants  had  been  to  the  best 
men  in  the  community,  could  be  passed.  No  such  thing 
would  have  been  even  excusable,  unless  for  a  short  time 
as  a  temporary  dictatorship  in  a  public  extremity.  It 
was  adopted  as  a  permanent  measure ;  and  the  grant 
was  to  men  who  were  the  objects  of  suspicion,  who,  in 
little  more  than  a  year  afterwards,  were  hunted  from 
human  society,  as  well  as  from  office,  some  of  whom 
were  or  are  in  exile,  and  others  of  whom  are  now 
arraigned  by  the  State  in  civil  and  criminal  actions. 


ME.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  103 

The  air  was  full  of  rumors  of  corruption.  The  great 
public  trusts,  involving  the  interests,  safety,  and  honor 
of  a  million  of  people,  had  been  divided  up  as  bribes. 
It  was  everywhere  said  that  the  crime  had  taken  a 
grosser  form,  and  that  Senators  and  Assemblymen  had 
been  bought  with  money  to  vote  for  this  iniquity.  A 
year  later,  it  was  stated  in  the  newspapers,  on  the 
authority  of  Judge  Noah  Davis,  as  derived  from  a 
well-known  member  of  the  lobby,  that  the  price  paid 
to  six  leading  Republican  senators  was  to  each  ten 
thousand  dollars  for  the  charter,  and  five  thousand  for 
the  kindred  bills  of  the  session,  and  five  thousand  for 
similar  services  the  next  year. 

Shortly  after  this  revelation,  while  the  revolt  of 
forty  thousand  Democrats  in  this  city  was  taking  its 
representation  away  from  the  "  Ring,"  the  Republicans 
of  the  interior  were  re-electing  five  of  these  six  Senators 
as  their  contribution,  with  many  other  similar  charac 
ters,  to  the  "  Reform  "  Legislature.  Those  five  Senators 
now  sit  in  the  highest  seats  of  the  Grant  Republican 
Sanhedrim  at  Albany. 

"  The  Times  "  has  for  a  long  while  been  as  "  still  as 
a  mouse  "  about  them. 

WHO   BETRAYED   THE   CITY? 

There  have  been  two  great  battles  against  the  "  Ring." 
The  first  was  in  Albany,  in  April,  1870.  That  was  to 
prevent  the  "  Ring,"  while  only  objects  of  suspicion, 
from  being  enthroned  in  absolute  dominion  over  the 


104  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

people  of  this  city.  The  loss  of  that  battle  made  no 
change  possible  until  the  Senate  could  be  changed.  The 
election  for  Senators  did  not  come  until  November, 
1871.  Then  was  the  second  great  battle,  made  neces 
sary  by  the  loss  of  the  first. 

Who  was  responsible  for  that  disastrous  day,  when 
the  beginning  of  the  crimes  afterwards  discovered  was 
shrouded  in  darkness,  and  their  larger  development 
made  possible  ?  Was  it  Mr.  Tilden  ?  Mr.  O'Conor?  Mr. 
Hewitt  ?  Did  their  "  respectability  cover  the  Ring's 
rascality,"  as  "  The  Times  "  charges?  "  The  Times  " 
itself  shall  answer. 

On  the  6th  of  April,  1870,  the  day  after  the  passage 
of  the  act  granting  New  York  city  to  the  "  Ring,"  "  The 
Times,"  in  an  article  headed  "  Municipal  Reform," 
hailed  this  measure  as  a  reform ;  derided  the  Union 
League  Club  and  Mr.  Greeley  with  their  "  entire  lack 
of  influence,"  in  that  "  so  pronounced  an  expression  " 
against  the  charter  had  not  "  been  heeded  by  at  least  one 
Republican  Senator  ;  "  and  said  that,  — 

"  If  it  shall  be  put  in  operation  by  Mayor  Hall, 
with  that  regard  to  the  general  welfare  which  we  have 
reason  to  anticipate,  we  feel  sure  our  citizens  will  have 
reason  to  count  yesterday's  work  in  the  Legislature  as 
most  important  and  salutary." 

On  the  8th  it  declared,  — 

"  Senator  Tweed  is  in  a  fair  way  to  distinguish  him 
self  as  a  reformer;  "  that  he  had  put  the  people  of  Man 
hattan  Island  under  great  obligations,  &c. 


105 

"  We  trust  that  Senator  Tweed  will  manifest  the  same 
energy  in  the  advocacy  of  this  last  reform  which  marked 
his  action  in  regard  to  the  charter." 

On  the  llth  it  published  Mayor  Hall's  instrument, 
dated  the  9th,  making  the  appointments  to  all  the 
municipal  offices.  Among  them  were  the  following :  — 

"  Department  of  Public  Works,  —  William  M.  Tweed. 

"  Department  of  Parks,  —  Peter  B.  Sweeney,  Thomas 
C.  Fields,  Henry  Hilton. 

"Department  of  Police,  —  Henry  Smith,  B.  F.  Man- 
iere,  Bosworth,  and  Brennan. 

"  Chamberlain,  —  John  J.  Bradley  :  and  so  on." 

On  the  12th  it  jeered  the  Union  League  Club,  Mr. 
Greeley,  and  Mr.  Tilden.  It  commented  on  a  remark 
in  Mayor  Hall's  paper  making  the  appointments,  in 
which  he  said  he  would  have  been  politically  justified 
in  conferring  them  all  on  Democrats;  and  replied  that 
the  Republicans  were  rather  useful  to  the  authors  of  the 
new  charter  in  the  recent  contest;  that,  but  for  the 
Republicans,  the  young  Democracy  might  to-day  "  be  at 
the  top  of  the  tree ;  "  that  Mayor  Hall  and  his  "  associ 
ates  will  doubtless  show  a  proper  appreciation  of  the 
assistance  rendered  them  by  the  Republicans  when  the 
enemy  were  crying  war  to  the  knife,  and  knife  to  the 
hilt." 

On  the  13th  it  said,  "  As  a  whole,  the  appointment 
of  the  heads  of  the  various  departments  of  the  City 
Government,  which  have  been  announced  "by  the  Mayor, 
are  far  above  the  average  -in  point  of  personal  fitness, 


106  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

and  should  be  satisfactory.  We  feel  inclined  to  be 
thankful,  if  not  entirely  satisfied  with  the  result." 

It  also  asserted  that  the  charter  and  election  law 
"  could  not  have  been  secured  without  the  help  of  the 
Republicans  in  the  Legislature,  and  hence  THE  CREDIT 
is  AS  MUCH  THEIRS  as  it  is  of  the  TWEED  Democracy." 

The  "  Ring "  having  possession  of  the  Tammany 
Society,  in  which  Mr.  Tilden  had  not  set  his  foot 
during  their  ascendency,  at  the  election  of  April  18, 
put  up  a  sham  ticket  on  which  they  placed  the  names 
of  persons  whom  they  hated,  and  gave  it  a  few  of 
their  own  votes  to  exhibit  the  appearance  of  a  contest. 

On  the  19th,  "  The  Times,"  under  a  flaming  notice 
headed,  "  Now  is  the  triumph  of  Tweed  complete," 
exulted  over  the  prostrate  Tilden,  A.  H.  Green,  and 
others,  "  heroes  of  the  O'Brien  faction." 

On  the  21st  of  May,  it  had  a  commendatory  notice 
of  Mr.  Peter  B.  Sweeney,  presiding  over  a  meeting  of 
the  Commissioners  of  the  Public  Parks,  and  added, 
"That  he  will  be  faithful  to  his  word,  the  meeting  yester 
day  afforded  a  fresh  guaranty." 

IMMEDIATE   CONSEQUENCES. 

The  5th  of  May  was  a  day  destined  to  be  famous  in 
our  municipal  annals.  Some  mysterious  and  insensible 
influence  seemed  to  debilitate  the  tone  of  "  The 
Times  "  in  its  utterance  that  morning.  It  spoke  feebly 
of  "  reforms  made  possible  by  the  recent  legislation 
at  Albany,"  Was  the  atmosphere  dark  and  murky 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  107 

with  what  was  going  on  in  the  new  Court-House  at  the 
same  moment  ? 

There  the  single  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Special 
Audit  was  being  held.  Hall  and  Tweed  and  Connolly 
were  making  the  order  for  the  payment  of  the  $6,312,- 
500,  of  which  scarcely  ten  per  cent  in  value  was 
realized  by  the  city.  Tweed  got  twenty-four  per  cent, 
and  his  agent  Woodward,  seven ;  the  brother  of 
Sweeney,  ten  ;  Watson,  seven ;  twenty  went  to  parties 
not  yet  named  in  the  forms  of  legal  proof ;  thirty-three 
went  to  the  mechanics  who  furnished  the  bills,  but 
their  share  had  to  suffer  many  abatements.  Gurney 
had  advanced,  March  30,  $10,000  to  go  to  Albany; 
and  again,  April  IT,  $40,000,  making  $50,000.  Inger- 
soll  also  had  to  send  $50,00$  ;  Keyser,  $25,000 ;  Miller, 
$25,000;  Hall,  $25,000;  and  others  their  quotas;  and 
then,  they  had  to  do  work  on  city  houses  and  country 
houses,  and  make  furniture,  and  to  paint,  to  supply 
safes,  and  perform  miscellaneous  services,  out  of  their 
third. 

As  the  time  advanced,  the  percentages  of  theft 
mixed  in  the  bills,  grew.  Moderate  in  1869,  they  reach 
sixty-six  per  cent  in  1870,  and,  later,  eighty-five  per 
cent.  The  aggregate  of  fraudulent  bills  after  April  5, 
1870,  was,  in  the  rest  of  that  year,  about  $12,250,000  ; 
and,  in  1871,  $3,400,000.  Nearly  fifteen  and  three- 
quarter  millions  of  fraudulent  bills  were  the  booty 
grasped  on  the  5th  of  April,  1870.  Fourteen,  perhaps 
fifteen  millions  of  it,  was  sheer  plunder. 


108  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  JONES   TTLDEN. 

The  victory  of  the  5th  of  April  enabled  the  "  Ring  " 
to  cover  up  what  had  been  already  stolen,  and  to 
go  forward  on  a  far  larger  scale,  and  commit  these 
enormous  robberies. 

THE   SUMMER   OF   1870. 

"  The  Times "  is  in  error  in  saying  that  its  daily 
incessant  attacks  on  Tammany  began  in  the  summer  of 
1870.  There  is  not  a  word  of  that  kind  in  its  editori 
als  in  all  that  summer.  Until  the  20th  of  September, 
it  kept  "  still  as  a  mouse,"  as  it  says  Mr.  Tilden  did. 
Then  it  first  touched  the  subject  incidentally  to  an 
article  on  the  Democratic  State  Convention  held  the 
next  day. 

The  stillness  of  Mr.  Tilden  left  ringing  in  the  ears 
of  the  people  his  unavailing  protest  and  his  denuncia 
tion. 

The  stillness  of  "  The  Times  "  left  echoing  in  the 
public  ear  its  boast  that  "the  credit"  of  the  "Ring" 
supremacy  belonged  "  as  much  to  the  Republicans  as  to 
the  Tweed  Democracy." 

Three  days  later  it  began  a  series  of  elaborate 
attacks,  not  really  upon  the  "  Ring,"  but  upon  their 
foe,  Mr.  Tilden.  It  accused  him  of  going  to  Roches 
ter  to  preside  over  Tweed's  convention;  and  it  has 
repeated  the  statement  many  times  lately.  The  truth 
is,  he  did  not  preside,  and  it  was  not  Tweed's  conven 
tion. 

It  was  my  official  duty  to  move  the  appointment  of 


ME.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  109 

the  temporary  chairman,  and  it  was  customary  to  pre-  , 
cede  the  motion  by  an  address  upon  National  or  State 
politics.  That  I  did.  The  Convention  was  a  body  of 
honorable  and  respected  gentlemen,  except  a  few  mem 
bers  of  the  "  Ring,"  who  got  in  as  delegates  by  means 
of  the  power  and  prestige  "  The  Times  "  had  helped 
them  to  acquire,  and  in  whom  it  had  expressed  its  con 
fidence  after  their  then  recent  public  assumption  of  the 
municipal  offices. 

I  had  not  even  the  benefit  of  its  first  beginning  of 
retraction.  That  happened  after  I  had  gone  to  the 
Convention,  and  was  not  communicated  to  me  by  tele 
graph. 

To  have  staid  away  would  have  been  to  abandon 
my  watch  and  guard.  ^True  men,  in  the  intervals  of 
battle,  rest  on  their  arms :  they  do  not  run  away) 

But  "  The  Times  "  complains  that  I  did  not  denounce  \ 
the  "  Ring "  in  my  speech.  Neither  they  nor  their 
doings  were  at  issue.  There  was  no  new  suspicion  of 
them  after  they  had  been  accepted  as  rulers  of  the 
metropolis  by  the  nearly  unanimous  vote  of  both  houses 
of  the  legislature,  aided  by  "  The  Times."  The  gene 
ral  public  had  acquiesced  in  the  disposition  to  try  them 
again.  The  whole  press  assented.  Nearly  everybody 
began  to  make  relations  with  them.  I  did  not.  I 
stood  aloof.  The  Republican  State  Convention  had 
been  held  two  weeks  before.  Senator  Conkling,  Mr. 
George  William  Curtis,  and  others  addressed  it ;  but 
not  one  of  them  had  a  word  to  say  about  the  surrender 


110  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES    TILDEN. 

of  the  metropolis  to  an  autocracy,  or  of  the  character 
of  the  men  to  whom  this  ignominious  betrayal  had 
been  made.  How  could  they?  The  "  credit  "  of  it 
was  "  as  much  due  to  the  Republicans  as  to  the  Tweed 
Democracy." 

Nothing  was  left  me  to  do  but  to  await  the  issue  of 
the  portentous  experiment.  As  to  their  frauds  at  elec 
tions,  I  had  no  means  of  knowledge  more  than  other 
citizens  ;  but  I  had  sent  to  Albany  a  carefully  prepared 
election  law,  which  had  been  examined  and  approved 
by  leading  Republicans  of  this  city.  The  Republican 
Senators  rejected  it,  and  took  Tweed's  election  law 
with  Tweed's  charter.  "  The  Times "  boasted  over 
this  election  law  as  "  by  far  the  more  substantial  reform 
of  the  two."  I  feel  scarcely  able  to  enter  into  the 
comparison  of  the  relative  merits  of  the  two  measures. 
The  "  substantial  reform "  known  as  the  election  law 
was  the  means  by  which  Mayor  Hall  acquired  such 
immense  power  over  the  inspectors  and  canvassers  and 
all  the  machinery  of  the  elections,  that  the  "  Ring  " 
began  to  think  they  could  get  along  without  the  voters. 
It  suppressed  the  opposition  of  the  practical  politicians 
in  the  wards,  who  saw  how  it  was  capable  of  being 
worked.  In  the  contest  of  1871,  it  discouraged  them 
from  joining  us  more  than  any  other  power  wielded  by 
the  "  Ring."  In  some  districts,  men  of  great  local 
influence  openly  said  it  was  of  no  use  to  run  a  ticket 
so  long  as  that  power  could  be  exercised  against  them. 
The  Reformers  were  generally  appalled  by  it.  I  had 


ME.  TILDEN'S  OWN  IIECOED.  Ill 

confidence,  because  I  counted  on  the  intensity  of  the 
popular  ferment  as  likely  to  permeate  and  weaken  all  the 
agencies  of  the  "  Ring,"  and  to  swell  the  wave  of  oppo 
sition  until  it  should  sweep  over  all  artificial  obstruc 
tions. 

If  the  value  of  a  thing  is  to  be  measured  by  what 
it  costs,  we  are  thrown  back  to  a  statement  made  to 
Judge  Davis  of  the  price  paid  to  the  leading  Republi 
can  Senators.  Five  thousand  dollars  for  the  election 
law,  and  for  Section  Four  of  the  Tax  Levy  under 
which  the  six  million  dollars  of  the  special  audit  were 
acquired,  was,  perhaps,  as  cheap  as  ten  thousand 
dollars  for  the  charter.  The  agents  of  the  Citizens' 
Association  cost  only  a  few  offices.  "  The  Times " 
threw  itself  in  gratuitously.  My  defence,  if  I  need 
one,  for  not  stopping  the  "  Ring  "  from  cheating  at  elec 
tions,  is,  that  I  tried  to  do  so,  but  could  not.  I  was 
beaten  by  the  Republican  Senators  and  "  The  Times." 

COURT   OF   APPEALS. 

Soon  after  the  disastrous  failure  to  secure  self- 
government  for  our  people,  a  lawyer  of  this  city  came 
to  me,  and  said  that  the  best  thing  for  me  to  do  was 
to  endeavor  to  secure  a  good  Court  of  Appeals.  My 
recollection  is,  that  the  general  term  for  this  depart 
ment,  two  of  the  three  members,  which  have  since 
been  expelled  for  corruption,  had  at  that  time  just 
been  constituted.  I  felt  that  to  make  civil  rights  safe  in 
the  second  and  last  appeal  was  of  great  value,  and  set 


112  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

about  the  work.  In  the  mean  time  a  distinguished 
gentleman  from  the  interior  came  to  propose  to  me  to 
run  as  Chief  Judge  of  the  new  court,  and  to  assure  me 
of  a  support  which  I  understood  would  carry  with  it 
the  State  administration  and  every  thing  jealous  of  or 
hostile  to  me  throughout  the  State.  It  was  evident 
that  I  was  considered  less  dangerous  at  the  head  of  the 
court  than  at  the  head  of  the  State  Committee.  I 
answered  that  I  thought  I  should  not  be  dependent  on 
any  such  help  if  I  desired  the  nomination,  but  that  it 
was  not  in  accord  with  my  plan  of  life  to  desire  or  take 
the  office.  I  did  issue  a  private  appeal  for  the  forma 
tion  of  a  good  court  to  nearly  all  the  Democratic 
lawyers  of  the  State,  and  to  other  prominent  men. 
Many  of  the  foremost  members  of  the  bar  came  to  the 
convention ;  and  we  nominated  and  elected  five  of  the 
seven  members  of  a  court  which  has  the  complete  con 
fidence  of  the  bar  and  the  people.  After  the  judicial 
election  I  went  on  business  into  distant  States  until  late 

in  the  summer. 

WINTEK  OF  1871. 

I  did  not  set  my  foot  in  Albany  during  the  session 
of  1871.  "  The  Times  "  frequently  said,  "  Such  men  as 
Samuel  Tilden  have  no  real  influence."  If  "  The  Times  " 
meant,  no  influence  in  what  was  then  the  political  and 
legislative  Sodom  of  the  State,  there  is  no  exaggeration 
in  the  assertion.  Men  who  are  bought  on  great  ques 
tions  are  in  no  situation  to  disobey  on  inferior  matters 
which  are  really  insisted  on.  Mr.  Tweed  was  never  so 


ME.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  113 

supreme  over  nearly  the  whole  body  of  the  Republican 
members ;  and,  with  their  aid,  could  despise  or  suppress 
and  punish  every  revolt  on  the  Democratic  side.  And 
he  had  acquired  the  prestige  of  successful  power.  The 
Democrats  had  not,  in  either  house,  one  vote  to  spare 
from  the  number  necessary  to  pass  a  bill.  But  Mr. 
Tweed  was  no  worse  off  that  he  was  completely  depen 
dent  on  his  alliances  with  the  Republicans.  Nearly 
every  bad  measure  passed  without  any  opposition,  or 
with  only  a  sham  opposition.  "  The  Times "  on  one 
occasion  complained  that  the  root  of  the  evil  was  in  the 
apathy  of  the  Republican  party  of  that  city.  There  was 
force  in  the  statement.  The  prejudices,  the  party 
passions,  the  interests  of  ambitious  men,  made  the  oppo 
sition  the  natural  organ  of  the  discontents  of  society 
with  the  ascendent  power,  which,  at  this  time,  had  some 
pretext  for  calling  itself  Democratic,  though,  in  truth, 
it  was  a  "  Ring  "  of  both  parties.  The  combination  had 
such  control  over  the  Republicans  at  Albany,  and  in 
this  city,  that  a  revolution  in  the  Republican  party  was 
necessary  to  create  an  opposition  ;  and,  without  an  oppo- 
tion,  dissenting  Democrats  were  powerless.  In  stimu 
lating  the  hearty  animosity  of  Republicans,  even  though 
by  vague  appeals,  or  if  for  merely  partisan  ends,  "  The 
Times  "  rendered  valuable  service  in  a  preparation  for 
the  future.  But  time  was  necessary. 

It  is  wholly  untrue,  that  at  any  moment  I  was 
timid,  or  selfishly  reserved,  or  shrank  from  any  respon 
sibility. 


114  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

I  am  not  a  newspaper,  whose  business  it  is  to  address 
the  public  every  day ;  whose  recurring  want,  more  than 
meat  or  bread,  is  a  topic  ;  and  to  whom  invective,  even 
if  without  facts  or  evidence,  provided  it  makes  a  sensa- 
sation,  is  money,  — more  money,  in  circulation  and 
advertisements.  Men  not  of  the  editorial  avocation 
have  to  turn  from  their  ordinary  duties  and  habits 
when  they  appear  before  the  public ;  and  it  is  only  on 
few  occasions  that  they  find  the  forum,  or  the  oppor 
tunity,  or  the  leisure.  How  many  times  did  Mr.  Wil 
liam  A.  Booth,  who  is  mentioned  with  commendation 
by  "  The  Times,"  and  is  truly  an  excellent  citizen,  or 
Mr.  Jackson  Schultz,  or  even  Mr.  Evarts,  appear  during 
this  period?  I  will  not  ask  about  the  Chairman  of  the 
Republican  State  Committee.  It  is  safe  to  conjecture 
that  he  was  running  of  errands  for  some  branch  of  the 
"  Ring,"  and  serving  around  the  legislative  halls  for 
what  are  daintily  termed  counsel  fees. 

I  would  have  had  a  perfect  right  to  wait  until  that 
"  Ring  "  dominion  over  our  million  of  people,  which  uThe 
Times  "  boasted  was  "  as  much  "  the  work  of  "  the 
Republicans  "  as  of  the  "  Tweed  Democracy,"  had  ma 
tured  its  fatal  fruits,  before  I  should  again  renew  the 
battle  which  had  been  once  betrayed  and  lost.  But 
nevertheless,  on  some  occasions,  I  did  intervene. 

SCHOOL   SYSTEM. 

The  revolution  in  the  school  system,  in  the  winter 
of  1871,  was  the  favorite  scheme  of  the  master  spirit  of 
the  "  Ring."  I  publicly  condemned  it. 


ME.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  115 


CODE   AMENDMENT. 

The  provision  of  the  Code  Amendment  Bill,  which 
conferred  on  the  Judges  a  transcendent  authority  to 
punish  for  what  they  might  choose  to  consider  as  con 
tempts,  was  the  measure  which  was  to  apply  coercion 
to  the  press,  and  to  speakers  who  should  attack  the 
"  Ring."  What  the  two  millions  a  year  of  advertise 
ments,  open  to  be  given  or  recalled  at  the  will  of  Mayor 
Hall,  should  fail  to  win,  this  summary  power  —  since 
understood  to  have  been  devised  by  Cardozo,  and 
designed  to  be  wielded  by  him  and  Barnard  —  was  to 
conquer.  It  was  said  —  I  know  not  with  what  truth 
—  to  be  specially  aimed  at  "  The  Times."  Probably 
many  an  article  of  that  journal  in  the  spring  of  1871, 
which  seemed  to  the  public  to  be  vague  and  wanting  in 
definite  facts,  had  point  enough  to  the  men  who  knew 
they  had  stolen  fourteen  millions,  since  it  helped  them 
into  power.  At  any  rate,  this  scheme  was  the  desperate 
resource  of  a  denomination  bold  and  blind,  as  it  was 
ripening  for  a  fall.  In  it  were  concentrated  the  fears 
and  hopes  of  the  "  Ring."  It  was  passed  without  a  dis 
senting  voice  in  either  house.  Every  Republican  mem 
ber  voted  for  it,  or  staid  away.  The  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  Conference,  who  manoeuvred  it  through, 
was  a  Republican  Senator,  who  admitted,  last  year,  the 
"  borrowing,"  in  one  instance,  of  ten  thousand  dollars 
from  Mr.  Tweed,  which  had  not  been  repaid. 

One  evening  in  May,  when  I  was  temporarily  con- 


116  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

fined  to  my  house  by  illness,  Mr.  Randolph  Robinson 
called  to  ask  me  to  be  chairman  of  a  committee  of  the 
Bar  Association  to  go  to  Albany,  and  remonstrate 
with  Gov.  Hoffman  against  his  signing  this  bill.  I 
declined  to  be  chairman,  but  assented  that  the  meeting 
might  put  me  on  the  committee,  if  it  chose  to  do  so, 
with  the  knowledge  that  I  could  not  go  ;  and  said 
that  I  would  write  a  letter  against  the  bill. 

On  second  thought,  a  hurried  note  was  addressed  to 
Mr.  Evarts,  who  was  chairman,  that  it  might  be  sure  of 
publication.  It  was  paraded  in  the  foreground  of  the 
controversy.  It  and  its  writer  were  constantly  cited 
by  "  The  Times."  An  issue  was  publicly  declared  from 
which  everybody  knew  I  would  not  retire.  If  the  bill 
had  not  been  vetoed,  an  open  collision  must  have 
spread  all  over  the  State.  After  I  had  taken  my 
position,  I  received  assurances  of  co-operation,  in  such 
a  controversy,  from  Francis  Kernan  and  others. 

THE   CONTEST   OF  1871. 

The  7th  of  November,  1871,  was  the  first  day  when 
a  vote  of  the  people  could  even  indirectly  retrieve  the 
results  of  the  legislation  of  April  5,  1870. 

STRONG  POSITION  OF  THE   "  RING "    IN  THE   CITY. 

Mr.  Tweed  was  in  his  office  until  April,  1874, 
Connolly  until  1875,  and  Sweeney  until  1875.  They, 
with  the  mayor,  were  vested  with  the  exclusive  legal 
power  of  appropriating  all  moneys  raised  by  taxes  or 


ME.  TILDEN'S  OWN  EECOED.  117 

by  loans,  and  an  indefinite  authority  to  borrow.  Prac 
tically  they  held  all  power  of  municipal  legislation, 
and  all  power  of  expending  as  well  as  of  appropriating 
moneys.  They  had  filled  the  departments  with  their 
dependants  for  terms  equally  long. 

They  wielded  the  enormous  patronage  of  offices  and 
contracts  ;  they  swayed  all  the  institutions  of  local  gov 
ernment,  the  local  judiciary,  the  unhappily  localized 
portion  of  the  State  judiciary,  which  includes  the 
Circuit  Courts,  the  Oyer  and  Terminers,  the  Special 
Terms,  and  the  General  Terms ;  in  a  word,  every  thing 
below  the  Court  of  Appeals.  They  also  controlled  the 
whole  machinery  of  elections.  New  York  City,  with 
its  million  of  people,  with  its  concentration  of  vast 
interests  of  individuals  in  other  States  and  in  foreign 
countries,  with  its  conspicuous  position  before  the 
world,  had  practically  no  power  of  self-government. 
It  was  ruled,  and  was  to  be  ruled  so  long  as  the  terms 
of  these  offices  continued,  — from  four  to  eight  years,  — 
as  if  it  were  a  conquered  province.  The  central  source 
of  all  this  power  was  Albany.  The  system  emanated 
from  Albany.  It  could  only  be  changed  at  Albany. 

In  my  speech  at  the  Cooper  Institute  in  1871,  I 
said,  "  They  stripped  every  legislative  power  and  every 
executive  power,  and  all  the  powers  of  government, 
from  us,  and  vested  them  in  half  a  dozen  men  for  a 
period  of  from  four  to  eight  years,  who  held  and  were 
to  hold  supreme  dominion  over  the  people  of  this  city." 

I  heard  my  friend  Mr.  Choate  say,  that  the  men  in 


118  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

power  had  been  elected  by  your  suffrage.  I  am  sore 
that  was  a  slip  of  the  tongue.  The  men  in  power 
were  elected  by  no  man's  suffrage.  They  never  could 
have  been  elected  by  any  man's  suffrage.  They  were 
put  in  power  by  the  act  of  the  Senate  and  Assembly 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  without  consulting  us  or 
any  of  us.  The  ground  that  I  had  taken  is,  that  as  the 
STATE  had  put  these  men  on  us,  the  State  must  take 
them  off.  That  is  the  reason  I  differ  from  my  Demo 
cratic  friends  of  the  rural  districts,  who  say,  — 

"  What !  will  you  carry  a  local  controversy  into  the 
State  convention  ?  Will  you  carry  it  into  the  politics 
of  the  State,  and  distract  and  disorganize  the  Demo 
cratic  party  ?  " 

I  answered,  "  It  is  too  late  to  consider  that  ques 
tion.  For  ten  years  the  Democratic  party  has  pledged 
itself  to  give  back  to  New  York  the  rights  of  self- 
government  ;  and  when  it  came  into  power  it  betrayed 
that  pledge,  and  violated  that  duty. 

"  Alone  I  went  to  the  city  of  Albany,  and  recorded 
my  protest  against  the  outrage.  The  plan  was  cun 
ningly  contrived  and  skilfully  executed,  but  owed  its 
success  to  a  disregard  of  all  moral  obligations  and  all 
restraints  of  honor  or  principle.  How  was  it  accom 
plished  ?  By  taking  a  million  of  dollars,  stolen  from 
the  tax-payers,  and  buying  in  the  shambles  a  majority 
in  the  two  houses 'of  the  Legislature. 

When  I  spoke  against  this  charter  before  a  com 
mittee  of  the  Senate,  Mr.  Tweed  sitting  in  the  chair,  I 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  119 

already  knew  that  not  more  than  one  vote  of  the 
Democrats  and  not  more  than  one  vote  of  the  Repub 
licans  would  be  cast  against  it ;  but  I  felt  it  to  be  my 
duty  to  the  people  of  New  York  and  to  the  Democratic 
party,  to  record  my  protest  against  what  I  then  deemed 
a  crime  against  us,  and  a  betrayal  of  our  principles. 

The  officers  composing  the  "  Ring"  government  of 
this  city  could  not  be  removed,  or  their  power  curtailed 
or  limited,  except  by  new  legislation.  Such  legislation 
could  only  be  made  by  the  concurrent  action  of  the 
Assembly,  Senate,  and  Governor. 

If  they  could  hold  enough  of  the  Senators  to  defeat 
the  passage  of  a  bill  changing  this  state  of  things,  they 
could  resist  public  opinion,  and  defy  the  vote  of  the 
people  of  this  city,  which  might  spend  itself  without 
results  upon  Aldermen  and  Assistants  totally  without 
power,  and  on  a  Mayor  having  little  legal  authority, 
and  capable  of  being  nothing  more  than  a  subordinate 
instrument  of  the  executive  departments. 

CRISIS   OP   THE   CONTEST. 

The  Senators  who  had  voted  on  the  5th  of  April, 

1870,  with  but   two   dissenting   voices,  to   create   this 
state  of  things,  did  not  come  within  the  reach  of  the 
people  until  the  election  of  the  7th  of  November,  1871, 
when  their  successors  were  to  be  chosen. 

/  The  5th  of  April,  1870,  and  the  7th  of  November, 

1871,  were  the  two  days  of  battle.     The  intervening 
time  was  but  the  interval  between  two  battles.     The 


120  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

period  which  preceded  the  election  of  the  7th  of 
November,  1871,  was  important  and  valuable  only  as  a 
time  of  preparation. 

PIVOT    OF   THE   CONTEST. 

The  objective  point  of  the  battle  was  the  legislative 
power  of  the  State,  the  Senators,  and  Assemblymen. 

"RING"  PLAN  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN. 

The  "  Ring "  saw  that.  Early  there  came  to  me 
prominent  gentlemen  from  the  interior,  to  propose  that 
I  should  name  all  the  delegates  to  the  State  Convention 
to  be  sent  by  the  Tammany  organization,  and  so  have 
no  contest.  The  object  of  the  "  Ring  "  was,  to  retain 
the  prestige  of  "  regularity,"  in  aid  of  the  election  of 
their  nominees  as  Senators  and  Assemblymen.  If  they 
could  hold  the  five  Senators  from  the  city,  they  had  no 
misgivings  about  holding  the  Republican  Senators  from 
the  country.  At  last,  when  I  consented  to  have  a  con 
ference  with  one  of  them  on  the  basis  of  a  resignation 
of  all  city  offices,  and  a  withdrawal  from  the  Demo 
cratic  city  organization  and  all  political  leadership,  the 
surrender  on  my  terms  was  refused  ;  and  their  reliance 
on  holding  the  Senate  BY  MEANS  OF  EIGHT  REPUBLICAN 
SENATORS  already  secured  to  MR.  TWEED  was  avowed. 

A  passage  of  my  speech  at  the  Cooper  Institute  is 
reported  as  follows  :  — 

"  Mr.  Tweed's  plan  is,  to  carry  the  senatorial  repre 
sentation  from  this  city,  and  then  to  re-elect  eight,  and 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  IIECORD.  121 

if  possible  twelve,  of  the  Republican  Senators  from  the 
rural  districts  whom  he  bought  and  paid  for  last  year, 
and  to  control  all  the  legislation  that  might  be  presented 
there  in  your  behalf;  and  it  was  because  I  had  some 
misgivings  that  this  might  be  done,  that  I  thought  it  was 
my  duty  personally  to  take  the  field  and  help  you  in  this 
conflict. 

"  If  I  had  felt  that  the  Republicans  coidd  have  carried 
the  thing  of  themselves,  it  would  have  been  pleasanter 
and  easier  for  me  to  have  stepped  aside,  and  let  them  do 
it.  I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  the  honest  masses  of  the 
Democracy,  and  still  more  to  the  people  (for  party  is  of 
no  value  unless  it  can  serve  the  people  faithfully  and 
effectually),  to  take  my  stand  with  the  advanced  col 
umns  of  reform  and  good  government ;  to  take  my 
place  there,  and  stand  or  fall  with  those  who  gather 
round  me." 


MY  PLAN  OP  THE   CAMPAIGN. 

My  plan  of  the  campaign  was  in  a  single  idea.  It 
was  to  take  away  from  the  "  Ring "  the  Senators  and 
assemblymen  from  this  city.  That  was  to  storm  the 
central  stronghold  on  which  their  lines  rested,  while 
they  were  extending  their  operations  over  the  whole 
State. 

Their  allies  throughout  the  State  in  both  parties 
would  be  rendered  powerless,  or  be  dispersed.  I  feared 
most  their  allies  in  the  Republican  party.  As  it  was, 
the  Assembly  was  largely  made  up  of  men  who  had  got 


122  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

themselves  nominated  by  the  Republicans,  in  the  expec 
tation  that  Tweed  would  come  back:  and  such  "•olden, 

o 

or  rather  greenback  showers,  as  he  had  scattered  during 
the  two  previous  sessions,  would  descend  upon  them. 

Offers  of  a  surrender  of  all  part  in  the  State 
Convention,  and  in  the  State  organization,  were  contin 
ually  miide  in  every  form  ;  and  weighty  pressure  was 
brought  on  me  from  powerful  men  all  over  the  State 
to  accept  it,  and  so  "  save  the  party."  I  uniformly 
asked,  "  Who  is  to  have  the  five  Senators  and  twenty-one 
Assemblymen  ?  "  In  a  speech  at  the  State  Convention,  I 
made  this  issue.  I  said  that  the  object  of  endeavoring 
to  get  a  recognition  of  the  organization  then  controlled 
by  the  "Ring,"  or  of  avoiding  its  direct  repudiation, 
was  "  to  go  back  and  nominate  twenty-one  Members  of 
Assembly  and  five  Senators,  and  then  to  say  to  the  upris 
ing  masses  of  the  best  intellect  and  moral  worth  of  the 
people,  4  If  you  do  not  vote  this  ticket,  you  are  out  of 
the  Democratic  party.'' '  I  denied  that  the  system  of 
organization  then  in  use  in  the  city  had  any  moral 
right  to  be  considered  regular,  or  to  bind  the  Demo 
cratic  masses.  I  avowed  before  the  convention,  that  I 
would  not  vote  for  any  one  of  its  nominees  as  Assembly 
men  or  Senators. 

In  my  speech  at  Cooper  Institute,  I  said,  "  A  great 
many  times  that  offer  was  repeated,  and  every  thing 
was  tendered  me  except  the  Senate  and  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  New  York ;  but  I  said  that  every  thing  else  was 
of  no  value  for  them  to  give,  and  of  no  value  for  me  to 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  123 

take ;  that  the  legislation  which  should  be  made  in 
respect  to  the  City  Government,  whatever  else  I  would 
promise,  that  I  could  not  compromise,  and  I  WOULD  NOT. 
[Applause.]  I  told  the  State  Convention,  being  the 
nominal  head  of  the  Democratic  party  of  the  State,  for 
the  sake  of  perfect  frankness  and  distinctness,  and  in 
order  that  I  might  not  be  misunderstood,  —  I  told  them 
that  I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  oppose  any  man  who 
would  not  go  for  making  the  government  of  this  city  what 
it  ought  to  be,  at  ivhatever  cost,  at  whatever  sacrifice.  If 
they  did  not  deem  that  regular,  I  would  resign  as  Chair 
man  of  the  State  Committee,  and  take  my  place  in  the 
ranks  of  my  plundered  fellow-citizens,  and  help  them  to 


OF   EMANCIPATION. 

On  this  issue  I  staked  my  political  existence  and  all 
my  party  relations  throughout  the  State.  I  threw  my 
self  into  the  breach  in  order  to  inspire  courage  in  the 
Democratic  masses  of  the  city  to  break  away  from  the 
prestige  of  a  pretended  but  sham  "  regularity." 

HOW   TO   OVERTHROW   THE  RING  IN  THE   POPULAR 
VOTE   OF   THE   CITY. 

There  was  a  Democratic  majority  in  the  city  of  at 
least  forty  or  fifty  thousand,  if  all  the  honest  and  only 
the  honest  votes  should  be  polled.  The  party  organi 
zation  in  the  city,  which  had  been  accepted  by  the  State 
Convention  for  years,  in  preference  to  the  other  organi- 


124  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

zalions  that  had  competed  with  it,  had  fallen  into  the 
complete  possession  of  the  "  Ring,"  and  had  been  made 
a  close  corporation,  within  which  no  contest  could  be 
waged  against  them,  so  long  as  they  held  so  vast  official 
power  and  patronage.  All  rival  organizations,  and 
nearly  all  spirit  of  opposition,  had  been  crushed  out 
under  the  operation  of  the  enormous  centralized  domin 
ion  derived  from  Albany. 

The  despondency  and  disbelief  in  the  possibility  of 
carrying  the  election  in  the  city  against  the  nominees 
who  would  be  in  the  interest  of  the  "  Ring  "  was  deep, 
almost  universal,  and  hopeless. 

It  is  seldom  that  ten  per  cent  of  any  party  scratch 
the  regular  ticket. 

To  the  Democratic  masses  it  was  said,  not  only 
that  the  accused  persons  were  innocent,  but  that  even 
if  they  were  guilty  a  great  organization  ought  not  to  be 
destroyed  for  the  wrong  of  a  few  individuals ;  that  the 
party  was  not  responsible  for  them ;  and  that  the  par 
ticular  nominees  were  good  men.  How  were  the  votes 
of  twenty  or  thirty  or  forty  thousand  rank-and-file 
Democrats  to  be  detached  ? 

Nothing  short  of  an  organized  revolt  of  the  Demo 
cratic  masses  under  the  best  Democratic  lead,  with  the 
most  effective  measures,  and  with  some  good  fortune, 
could  accomplish  so  difficult  a  work  against  such 
extraordinary  powers  as  were  combined  to  uphold  the 
existing  system. 

The  first  measure  necessary  was  to  break  the  pres- 


ME.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  125 

tige  of  the  organization  which  the  "  Ring  "  controlled  as 
the  representative  of  the  party  in  the  eyes  of  its  masses  ; 
to  do  this  by  the  act  of  the  State  Convention. 

That  was  no  easy  matter.  To  able  men  who  sympa 
thized  with  me,  it  seemed  impossible.  It  proved  even 
more  difficult  than  I  expected.  A  party  in  power  is 
naturally  disposed  to  risk  the  continuance  of  abuses 
rather  than  to  hazard  the  extreme  remedy  of  "  cutting 
them  out  by  the  roots."  The  executive  power  of  the 
State,  and  all  its  recently  enlarged  official  patronage, 
were  exerted  against  such  a  policy.  And,  since  the 
contest  of  1869,  the  "  Ring  "  had  studied  to  extend  its 
influence  on  the  rural  districts,  and  had  showered  legis 
lative  favors  as  if  they  were  ordinary  patronage.  With 
out  having,  or  having  had  for  years,  the  power  to  give 
an  office  in  city  or  State,  I  stood  on  the  traditions  of  the 
older  leaders,  and  the  moral  sense  of  the  honest  masses 
of  the  Democratic  party. 

THE  TIME   WHEN  I  ACTED. 

The  publication  by  "  The  Times  "  of  what  is  called 
the  "  secret  accounts  "  was  completed  on  the  29th  of 
July.  They  consisted  of  copies,  made  by  a  clerk,  of 
entries  in  a  book  kept  in  the  office  of  the  comptroller. 
They  showed  the  dates  and  amounts  of  certain  pay 
ments  made  by  the  comptroller,  with  a  brief  description 
of  the  objects,  and  the  names  of  the  persons  to  whom 
the  payments  were  made. 

The   enormous   amounts,  compared  with  the   times 


126  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

and  purposes,  and  the  recurrence  of  the  same  names, 
created  a  moral  conviction  of  gross  frauds,  though  of 
course  not  amounting  to  judicial  proof  against  anybody 
on  which  a  criminal  or  civil  action  would  lie,  or  disclos 
ing  the  real  principles  in  the  fraudulent  transactions. 

I  soon  became  satisfied  of  the  substantial  truth  of 
these  statements,  by  the  futility  of  the  answers  on  behalf 
of  the  city  officers,  and  by  cross-examining  a  financial 
gentleman  who  came  to  me  with  a  letter  from  a  distin 
guished  citizen,  and  the  form  of  a  call  for  a  public  meet 
ing,  which  he  wished  me  to  head.  The  statements 
made  me  believe  that  municipal  frauds  had  been  com 
mitted  immeasurably  transcending  any  thing  I  had  ever 
suspected ;  and  they  furnished  a  sort  of  evidence  capa 
ble  of  acting  strongly  upon  the  popular  mind.  I  am  a 
believer  in  the  potency  of  definite  facts  in  making  an 
impression  on  the  public.  For  that  purpose,  I  had 
rather  have  one  fact  than  a  column  of  rhetoric.  The 
publication  was  made  just  as  I  was  going  into  the 
country.  In  two  or  three  days  there,  I  formed  my 
programme. 

ME.   KEEN  AN. 

For  so  difficult  a  movement  in  the  State  Convention, 
co-operation  was  necessary.  The  first  man  I  sought 
was  Mr.  Francis  Kernan.  His  freedom  from  all  entan 
glements,  —  whether  personal  or  political,  with  corrupt 
interests  or  corrupt  men,  — his  high  standard  of  public 
duty,  his  disinterestedness  and  independence,  his  tact 
and  eloquence  in  debate,  his  general  popularity,  and 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  127 

the  readiness  of  his  district  to  send  him  as  a  delegate, 
made  him  my  necessary  ally  in  the  State  Convention. 
After  much  telegraphing,  I  found  he  was  in  Albany  on 
professional  business.  I  went  there,  and  passed  a  day 
with  him. 

It  was,  I  believe,  the  4th  of  August,  1871.  That 
was  within  six  days  of  the  time  when  the  publication 
of  the  "  secret  accounts "  was  completed.  It  was  a 
month  before  the  4th  of  September,  when  the  meeting 
was  held,  at  which  the  committee  of  seventy  was 
created.  It  was  three  weeks  earlier  than  I  had  moved, 
in  1869,  when  my  own  fortunes  were  involved  in  a 
contest  with  the  "  Ring."  It  was  earlier  than  apolitical 
campaign  in  reference  to  the  November  election  usually 
opens.  It  was  more  than  three  months  before  the 
election.  So  far  from  the  "  battle  "  being  over,  it  was 
scarcely  begun.  So  far  from  the  u  Ring  "  being  "  down," 
as  "  The  Times  "  alleges,  it  was  confident  of  holding  its 
own  for  months  afterwards. 

The  programme  then  submitted  to  Mr.  Kernan 
embraced  every  thing  which  has  been  done  since,  except 
the  impeachment  of  the  judges.  He  was  about  to  go 
to  the  seashore  with  a  sick  relative  ;  and,  while  his 
concurrence  was  given,  particular  measures  were  left 
for  his  consideration,  until  his  return.  Ten  days 
afterwards,  I  joined  him  at  Albany,  went  with  him  to 
Utica,  and  received  the  assurance  of  his  co-operation; 
and  had  consultations  with  Gov.  Seymour,  who  was 
also  in  full  sympathy  with  us.  Mr.  Kermaii  will  recall 


128  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES    TILDEN. 

the  fact,  that  at  that  first  interview,  —  contemplating 
the  difficulty  of  the  conflict,  —  I  said,  and  he  agreed, 
that  we  ought  to  make  the  contest,  even  if  we  should 
fail  in  it. 

On  my  way  home,  I  stopped  a  few  days  at  Saratoga. 
There  I  met  Mr.  George  Jones  of  "  The  Times."  I  had 
known  him  twenty  years.  He  spoke  freely  to  me.  I 
saw  no  indication  that  he  thought  the  battle  was  over. 
He  seemed,  rather,  to  feel  its  stress.  I  told  him  I 
should  appear  in  the  field  at  the  proper  time.  Often 
afterwards,  when  I  met  him,  he  referred  to  that  casual 
interview  with  apparent  satisfaction. 

Some  five  or  six  weeks  later,  after  Mr.  Green  was 
in  as  substitute  for  Mr.  Connolly,  I  went  into  the  comp 
troller's  office.  There  sat  Mr.  Jennings  and  Mr.  Jones. 
The  former  said,  "  We  want  an  interview  with  you." 
Mr.  Green  kindly  gave  us  a  room  in  the  basement. 
When  we  arrived  there,  and  were  seated,  Mr.  Jennings 
said,  "  Do  you  see  any  daylight  ?  "  and  went  on  to  say, 
in  words  which  I  may  not  be  able  literally  to  repeat, 
that  the  contest  was  too  exhausting  to  be  continued 
very  long.  I  stretched  out  my  hand  to  him,  and  said, 
"  Be  of  good  cheer.  We  shall  win  this  fight." 

MR.    OSWALD   OTTENDORFER. 

At  Utica  I  had  seen  some  gentlemen  who  professed 
to  represent  Mr.  Ottendorfer's  views.  I  hastened  to 
see  him,  as  soon  as  I  arrived  at  New  York.  He  had 
accompanied  me  to  Albany  the  year  before,  when  I 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  129 

made  the  speech  against  the  Tweed  charter.  He  was  a 
very  important  element  in  the  contemplated  movement. 
His  purity  and  elevation  of  purpose  made  me  think  he 
would  join  us,  notwithstanding  the  great  efforts  which 
were  made  to  prevent  it.  He  did  so. 

MR.   O'CONOR. 

Averse  to  engaging  personally  in  politics ;  at  an  emi 
nence  in  professional  renown,  in  social  consideration, 
and  in  personal  character,  which  lifted  him  above 
rivalries,  and  disposed  everybody  to  defer  to  him  so 
long  as  he  abstained  from  fresh  collision ;  entitled  to 
consult  his  ease,  and  the  comfort  of  tranquillity,  —  Mr. 
CTConor  was  nevertheless  in  complete  sympathy  with 
the  right.  I  had  often  communed  with  him,  over  evils 
which  there  seemed  to  be,  at  the  time,  no  means  to 
redress.  I  went  out  to  Washington  Heights  to  see 
him.  I  told  him  the  hour  had  come.  He  said  he  would 
help  according  to  his  view  of  what  he  was  best  adapted 
to,  and  of  what  was  most  fit  for  him  to  undertake. 

There  were  great  legal  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
getting  investigation  or  redress. 

The  Aldermen,  who  were  vested  with  a  statutory 
power  of  compelling  disclosure,  were  allies  of  the 
"  Ring."  The  Legislature  was  not  in  session.  For  a 
long  time,  there  was  no  grand  jury,  capable  of  making 
the  traditionary  inquest,  which  had  not  been  packed. 

The  local  authorities  which  had  power  to  order 
civil  actions,  if  such  would  lie  in  their  behalf,  were  in 


130  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

complicity  with  the  wrong-doers.  The  officials  who 
would  conduct  such  actions  were  their  appointees  ;  the 
juries  would  be  selected  in  their  interest;  and  the 
judges  who  dominated  in  the  court  were  their  instru 
ments. 

Criminal  proceedings  were  equally  hampered.  Well 
might  the  mayor  say  to  Garvey,  —  as  the  latter  has 
recently  testified,  —  "  Who  is  to  sue  ?  " 

As  early  as  August,  I  had  discussed  with  Mr. 
O'Conor,  the  right  of  the  State  by  the  Attorney-general 
to  sue  ;  but  even  that  resource  was  unavailable,  because 
we  could  not  then  count  on  the  co-operation  of  that 
officer. 

When  I  suggested  a  new  law,  appointing  one  or 
three  Commissioners,  conferring  on  them  full  powers  of 
compelling  disclosure,  vesting  them  with  the  right  to 
sue,  enabling  them  to  lay  the  venue  outside  of  this 
county,  giving  preference  to  their  actions,  with  other 
provisions  to  render  the  remedy  speedy  and  efficacious, 
Mr.  O'Conor  said  he  would  take  the  head  of  such  a 
commission. 

It  was  these  conferences  which  led  Mr.  Kernan 
and  myself  to  vote  for  Mr.  O'Conor  —  without  his 
knowledge  —  as  Attorney-general.  To  the  gentleman 
who  was  nominated,  I  sent  a  message,  advising  him  of 
the  necessity  that  he  should  satisfy  the  people  of  New 
York  that  he  would  exert  the  powers  of  his  office  in 
their  behalf.  He  came  to  my  house  on  the  Sunday 
morning  of  October  15,  with  a  letter  dated  the  14th, 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  131 

which  was  published  on  the  16th,  containing  such  an 
assurance  ;  and  said  he  would  authorize  any  suit  Mr. 
O'Conor  or  I  should  advise.  He  had  returned  to 
Albany,  and  communicated  this  agreement  to  Gov. 
Hoffman,  before  the  delegates  of  the  committee  of 
seventy  had  their  interview  —  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
17th  —  at  which  Mr.  Champlain  announced  his  purpose 
to  depute  Mr.  O'Conor. 

With  characteristic  disinterestedness  and  public 
spirit,  that  trust  was  undertaken  by  Mr.  O'Conor,  with 
the  declaration  that  he  would  accept  no  compensation 
for  his  professional  work ;  and  ever  since  he  has  given 
his  time  and  his  great  abilities  and  acquirements  to  the 
service  of  the  people. 

OTHER   PREPARATIONS. 

These  conferences  were  in  August,  and  before  the 
committee  of  seventy  was  appointed.  They  did  not 
wait  for  or  depend  upon  any  co-operation.  They  contem 
plated  independent  action.  Other  preparations  for  the 
State  Convention  were  made.  I  accepted  an  arrange 
ment  to  be  upon  the  floor  as  the  representative  of  my 
native  district,  which  had  always  during  the  "  Ring  " 
ascendancy  provided  me  that  opportunity.  I  asked  a 
few  other  gentlemen  to  come,  but  had  not  time  to  look 
after  delegates  in  detail.  I  did,  however,  early  in 
September,  issue  a  letter  to  twenty-six  thousand  Demo 
crats  reviewing  the  situation,  and  calling  upon  them  to 
"  take  a  knife,  and  cut  the  cancer  out  by  the  roots," 


132  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

SUBSTITUTION    OF    MB.    GREEN    FOB    MB.    CONNOLLY 
IN   THE   COMPTBOLLEBSHIP. 

Meantime  an  important  event  happened,  which  could 
not  have  been  foreseen. 

On  the  14th  of  September,  Mr.  Connolly  applied  to 
me,  through  a  friend,  for  an  interview.  Without  know 
ing  its  object,  I  gave  it  on  the  morning  of  the  15th. 
The  most  artful  members  of  the  "Ring"  plotted  to 
save  themselves,  to  come  in  as  parts  of  a  new  system, 
even  as  reformers  with  added  power,  upon  Connolly's 
ruin.  In  his  distrust  of  them,  and  fears  for  himself,  he 
sought  advice. 

I  began  by  telling  him  that  I  could  not  be  his  coun 
sel,  or  assume  any  fiduciary  relations  toward  him  ;  that 
he  and  all  the  others  must  surrender  all  office  and  all 
local  party  leadership,  and  recognize  the  fact  that  their 
careers  were  ended. 

To  this  he  assented,  but  still  wanted  my  advice.  I 
counselled  him  that  he  had  no  right  to  resign  his  office 
into  the  hands  of  his  confederates,  that  such  an  act 
would  be  a  new  wrong  against  the  public. 

To  his  inquiry,  whether  if  he  remained  he  could  get 
money  to  carry  on  the  government,  I  told  him  I  would 
consult  Mr.  Havemeyer,  and  we  would  meet  him  again 
that  evening. 

Mr.  Havemeyer  came,  but  Connolly  did  not.  After 
consultation,  Mr.  Havemeyer  went  to  Connolly's  house ; 
found  him  in  bed  sick,  encouraged  him ;  appointed  a 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  133 

meeting  at  my  house  for  the  next  morning  at  ten;  and 
requested,  as  I  had  desired,  that  Connolly's  counsel 
should  come  with  him.  Meantime  I  had  examined  the 
law,  and  found  a  singular  enactment  by  which  the  comp 
troller  was  authorized  to  appoint  a  deputy,  and  confer 
upon  him  for  a  definite  period  all  his  own  official  powers. 
Mr.  Havemeyer  must  have  been  informed  o"f  this,  and 
consulted  about  the  proposed  action  under  it  before  he 
went  to  Connolly's,  for  he  had  agreed  to  assume  the 
responsibility  of  public  advice  to  Connolly  to  stay  in, 
as  Mr.  Green  could  only  hold  as  his  deputy. 

Besides  Mr.  Havemeyer  and  Mr.  Green,  the  only 
human  being  who  had  any  intimation  of  the  purpose 
was  Judge  Swayne,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  who  passed  the  evening  with  me,  to 
whom  I  confided  the  matter,  with  whom  I  discussed  the 
question  of  the  right  of  the  State  to  sue  in  such 
cases  under  the  general  rules  of  jurisprudence,  and,  in 
the  intervals  of  conversation  with  whom,  I  prepared 
some  of  the  papers. 

In  the  morning,  Mr.  Havemeyer  and  Mr.  Connolly 
and  his  counsel  came.  I  pressed  Mr.  Connolly  to  sur 
render  the  office  into  the  hands  of  the  reformers,  by 
deputing  Mr.  Green  to  exercise  all  its  powers ;  that  he 
had  less  to  fear  from  the  public  than  from  his  confed 
erates  ;  that  if  he  threw  himself  upon  the  mercy  of  the 
public,  and  evinced  a  disposition  to  aid  the  right,  the 
storm  would  pass  him,  and  beat  upon  the  others.  His 
counsel  said  it  was  a  personal  question.  One  of  them 


LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

stated  the  opposite  view  taken  by  some  of  Mr.  Con 
nolly's  friends.  It  was,  that,  if  he  would  resign,  a  man 
should  be  put  in  his  place  who  would  have  character 
enough  to  assume  the  whole  duty  of  investigation,  and 
would  exclude  the  committee  of  whiten  Mr.  Booth  was 
chairman ;  and  that  Mr.  Connolly  should  be  protected. 
It  was  disclosed  that  the  counsel  who  presented  this 
view  had  come  fresh  from  an  interview  with  Mr. 
Swcene}T. 

At  length  Mr.  Connolly  consented,  the  papers  were 
executed,  Mr.  Green  sworn  in ;  and  they  left  my  house 
only  to  go  to  the  office  of  the  comptroller,  and  put  Mr. 
Green  in  possession. 

"  The  Times "  seems  to  consider  the  acquisition  of 
this  office  by  the  reformers  at  that  stage  of  the  contest 
as  of  little  value.  That  was  not  its  opinion  at  the  time. 
It  is  not  my  opinion. 

The  possession  of  the  Comptrollership  by  the  re 
formers  was  a  fatal  embarrassment  to  the  "  RinGf."  It 

O 

involved  a  publicity  of  all  the  expenditures  of  the 
departments,  and  was  a  restraint  on  those  expendi 
tures.  It  created  doubt  and  dismay  in  all  their  action. 
It  was  an  obstacle  to  such  modes  of  raising  money  as 
had  brought  the  charter  through  in  1870,  and  to  the 
hope  of  reimbursing  advances  for  such  purposes.  It 
protected  the  records  on  which  all  civil  and  criminal 
actions  must  be  founded,  from  such  destruction  as  was 
attempted  in  the  burning  of  the  vouchers.  Every 
investigation,  including  that  of  Mr.  Booth's  committee, 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  135 

were  fruits  of  that  possession.  So  also  was  the  dis 
covery  of  judicial  proofs  in  the  Broadway  Bank,  and 
the  collection  of  such  proofs,  which  continued  for 
eight  months  afterwards,  with  important  results  which 
have  not  even  yet  become  public.  It  divided  the 
influence  of  the  city  government  in  the  elections,  and 
broke  the  prestige  of  the  "  Ring." 

EFFORTS    OF    THE   "RING"    TO    RECOVER    POSSESSION. 

Then  began  a  struggle  on  the  part  of  the  "  Ring  "  to 
force  Mr.  Connolly  to  resign,  in  order  that  Mr.  Green's 
power  might  cease.  On  the  18th,  the  mayor  treated 
Mr.  Connolly's  deputation  of  Mr.  Green  as  a  resigna 
tion  ;  and  then,  with  singular  inconsistency,  assumed  to 
remove  Mr.  Connolly,  though  he  had  lately  declared  he 
had  no  power  of  removal.  The  vacancy  thus  alleged  to 
exist,  he,  on  two  incompatible  theories,  each  totally 
unfounded,  proceeded  to  fill.  Early  that  morning  I 
sought  Mr.  O' Conor.  The  freedom  from  doubt  of  the 
law  was  no  security.  The  moral  support  of  his  great 
legal  name,  affirming  the  validity  of  Mr.  Green's 
possession,  was  necessary.  He  examined  the  statutes, 
and  had  no  doubt.  He  consented  to  reduce  his  opinion 
to  writing,  saying  that  he  would  not  take  a  fee,  and 
inserting  the  explanation  that  the  opinion  was  given 
at  my  request.  It  appeared  in  "  The  Evening  Post  "  of 
that  afternoon. 

An  attempt,  under  color  of  judicial  process,  to  forci 
bly  eject  Mr.  Green,  was  anticipated.  A  carriage  was 


136  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

waiting  to  take  me  to  Judge  Brady.  If  a  judge  could 
be  found  to  vacate  fraudulent  orders  as  fast  as  they 
could  be  granted,  it  was  well :  if  not,  I  had  resolved 
the  next  day  to  open  an  issue,  in  advance  of  the  elec 
tion  of  the  new  Legislature,  —  a  Convention  to  revise 
the  judiciary. 

Mr.  O'Conor's  opinion  saved  that  day.  Mr.  O'Gor- 
man,  evading  the  legal  question,  advised  the  mayor, 
as  a  matter  of  expediency,  to  acquiesce  in  Mr.  O'Con 
or's  opinion.  The  plot  fell  to  pieces. 

But  there  were  men  behind  the  mayor,  who  would 
not  give  up  the  struggle.  When  Keyser  alleged  that 
his  name  on  the  warrants  was  forged,  the  effort  was 
renewed.  It  was  in  resisting  it  that  I  struck  on  the 
clew  which  led  to  the  revelations  of  the  Broadway 
Bank. 

STATE   CONVENTION. 

The  contest  in  the  State  Convention  quickly  fol 
lowed.  It  is  but  fair  to  admit  that  what  I  asked  the 
Convention  to  do  was  more  than  any  party  was  ever 
found  able  to  venture  upon.  It  was,  to  totally  cut  off, 
and  cast  out  from  party  association,  a  local  organiza 
tion,  which  held  the  influence  growing  out  of  the 
employment  of  twelve  thousand  persons,  and  the  dis 
bursement  of  thirty  millions  a  year,  which  had  pos 
session  of  all  the  machinery  of  local  governments, 
dominated  the  judiciary  and  police,  and  swayed  the 
officers  of  the  election.  I  still  think,  that,  on  such  an 
occasion,  the  greatest  audacity  in  the  right  would  have 


MR.   TILDEN'S   OWN  RECORD.  137 

been  the  highest  wisdom,  and,  in  the  long-run,  the 
most  consummate  prudence.  If  the  Convention  could 
not  reach  that  breadth  and  elevation  of  action,  it 
nevertheless  did  help  to  break  the  prestige  by  which 
the  organization  expected  to  inthrall  the  local  masses. 
For  myself,  I  at  no  time  hesitated  to  avow,  as  my  con 
viction  of  duty  and  my  rule  of  action,  that  a  million 
of  people  were  not  to  be  given  over  to  pillage  to  serve 
any  party  expediency,  or  to  advance  any  views  of  State 
or  National  politics. 

OTHER  ACTION. 

For  more  than  three  months  I  devoted  myself  to  this 
contest.  Whatever  seemed,  on  a  general  survey  of  the 
whole  field,  necessary  to  be  done,  I  endeavored  to 
find  the  best  men  and  best  methods  to  do,  and,  at  all 
events,  to  have  that  thing  accomplished.  I  addressed 
the  Democratic  masses.  I  constantly  pointed  out  to 
the  public  the  legislative  bodies  as  the  turning-point 
of  the  controversy.  I  entered  into  an  arrangement 
with  Mr.  O' Conor  and  Mr.  Evarts  to  go  to  the  Legisla 
ture;  and,  when  events  afterwards  induced  them  to 
abandon  the  intention,  I  went  alone.  I  invited  the 
meeting  at  which  the  reform  delegation  to  the  State 
Convention  was  originated,  and  helped  to  form  that 
delegation. 

On  the  eve  of  the  election,  when  Mr.  Wickham, 
who  was  chairman  of  the  newly  extemporized  Demo 
cratic  reform  organization,  came  to  me  to  say  that  they 


138  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

could  not  supply  booths  or  ballots  without  ten  thou 
sand  dollars  beyond  what  they  were  able  to  raise,  I 
agreed  to  provide  it,  and  did  so.  With  the  aid  of  Mr. 
Edward  Cooper,  I  raised  from  personal  friends,  includ 
ing  my  own  contributions  for  the  legitimate  purposes 
of  the  contest,  about  the  same  sum  which  I  understand 
the  committee  of  seventy  collected  from  the  whole 
community  for  similar  purposes. 

BROADWAY   BANK  INVESTIGATIONS. 

These  investigations  furnished  the  first,  and  for  a 
long  time  the  onl}r,  judicial  proof  of  the  frauds. 
They  occupied  me,  and  some  four  or  five  clerks  and 
assistants,  about  ten  days.  The  analysis  of  the  results, 
and  their  application  as  proof,  were  made  by  myself, 
as  well  as  the  original  discovery  of  the  relation  of  the 
numbers,  which  was  the  clew  to  all  the  revelations. 

"  The  Times"  seems  to  ascribe  the  collection  of  judi 
cial  proof  to  Mr.  Booth's  committee.  This  is  an  entire 
error.  Nothing  of  the  kind  was  attempted  by  that 
committee.  The  value  of  their  report  was  in  its  exhi 
bition  of  the  accounts  of  payments  from  the  comp 
troller's  office.  It  did  not  trace  any  share  of  the 
money  to  any  public  officer.  That  Mr.  Booth  was 
allowed  to  inspect  the  accounts,  was  due  to  the  posses 
sion  of  the  comptroller's  office  by  Mr.  Green. 

This  information  obtained  from  the  Broadway  Bank 
established  the  fact  that  but  one-third  of  the  nominal 
amount  of  the  bills  had  ever  reached  the  persons  who 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  KECOED.  139 

pretended  to  be  entitled  to  the  payments,  and  that 
two-thirds  had  been  divided  among  public  officers  and 
their  accomplices  ;  and  it  traced  the  dividends  into  the 
actual  possession  of  some  of  the  accused  parties.  It 
converted  a  strong  suspicion  into  a  mathematical  cer 
tainty ;  and  it  furnished  judicial  proof  against  the 
guilty  parties.  On  this  evidence,  and  on  my  affidavits 
verifying  it,  the  action  by  the  Attorney-general  was 
founded. 

SPEECH  AT  COOPEE  INSTITUTE. 

At  the  great  "  reform  "  meeting  at  the  Cooper  Insti 
tute,  I  made  a  speech,  advocating  a  union  of  all  the 
elements  opposed  to  the  "  Ring,"  without  reference  to 
Stat*e  or  National  politics.  This  was  done  while  I  was 
the  official  head  of  the  State  organization  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party.  My  action  was  regarded  as  questionable 
by  some  good  men  who  judged  it  by  the  ordinary 
standard  of  political  parties.  All  the  secret  allies  of 
the  "  Ring"  throughout  the  State  were  employed,  aided 
by  most  of  the  executive  patronage,  in  accusing  me  of 
sacrificing  the  success  of  the  State  ticket,  and  the 
supremacy  of  the  Democratic  party  in  the  State,  to  my 
effort  to  overthrow  the  "  Ring."  Complaints  were  in 
spired  from  high  quarters,  that  I  had  not  kept  back  the 
Broadway  Bank  disclosures,  and  deferred  the  action  by 
the  Attorney-general  until  after  the  election.  This  was 
the  basis  of  an  organized  movement  against  me  in  the 
Assembly,  continued  and  renewed  for  a  whole  year 


140  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

throughout  the  State.  My  own  opinion  was,  and  is, 
that  the  most  vigorous  and  effective  measures  were 
necessary  to  overthrow  the  corrupt  dominion  over  this 
city;  that  if  they  had  not  been  taken  with  boldness, 
the  immense  power  which  had  been  created  by  the 
legislation  of  1870,  the  whole  local  government  ma 
chinery  with  its  expenditure  and  patronage,  and  its 
employment  of  at  least  twelve  thousand  persons,  and 
its  possession  of  the  police,  its  influence  on  the  judi 
ciary,  its  control  of  the  inspectors  and  canvassers  of 
the  elections,  would  have  enabled  the  "  Ring  "  to  hold 
a  majority  in  the  city,  and  would  have  defeated  all 
adverse  legislation  at  Albany. 

And,  while  I  never  hesitated  to  avow  that  the  eman 
cipation  of  our  million  of  people  was  not  to  be  made 
secondary  to  any  other  object  by  a  citizen  and  elector 
of  this  city,  I  thought  and  still  think  the  timid  and 
false  policy  I  was  assailed  for  not  adopting  —  if  I  know 
aright  the  many  high-minded  and  independent  gentle 
men  of  the  interior  who  would  not  have  brooked  any 
compromise  with  wrong  —  would  have  been  far  more 
disastrous  to  the  State  ticket  in  that  election,  and 
would  have  permanently  compromised  the  Democratic 
party.  It  is  to  the  eternal  honor  of  the  Democratic 
masses  of  this  State,  that,  on  the  issues  thus  made  with 
me  successively  for  a  whole  year,  they  gave  me  an 
overwhelming  support. 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  141 

DEMOCRATIC  REFORM  VOTE  IN  THE  CITY. 

How  largely  the  redemption  of  the  city  was  due  to 
the  Democratic  masses,  is  easily  shown.  The  vote  for 
Willers,  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Secretary  of 
State,  was  83,326  :  his  majority  was  29,189.  The 
vote  for  Sigel,  the  Union  reform  candidate  for  Regis 
ter,  was  82,565 :  his  majority  was  28,117.  Willers's 
vote  was  nearly  1,000,  and  his  majority  more  than  1,000, 
the  larger. 

It  follows  that  28,653  Democrats  who  voted  for 
Willers  also  voted  for  Sigel.  Even  that  does  not  show 
the  whole  Democratic  contribution  to  the  reform  vic 
tory  ;  for  at  least  10,000  or  12,000  Democrats,  dissatis 
fied  that  the  State  convention  had  not  gone  farther 
than  it  did,  voted  the  Republican  State  ticket.  The 
whole  Democratic  vote  cast  for  Sigel  was  little  short  of 
40,000,  against  the  42,500  he  received  from  all  other 
sources.  The  result,  so  much  more  overwhelming  than 
was  expected  by  the  public,  not  only  changed  the  city 
representation  in  the  legislative  bodies  of  the  State,  but 
in  its  moral  effect  crushed  the  "  Ring." 

So  far  from  true  is  it  that  the  "  battle  was  over,"  as 
"  The  Times  "  alleges,  when  I  entered  it,  the  battle  was 
not  over  till  the  polls  closed.  Even  to  the  night  before 
the  election,  general  despondency  prevailed.  All 
through  the  contest,  it  was  difficult  to  inspire  the  local 
politicians  with  confidence  in  our  chances  of  success. 
Many  whose  sympathies,  interests,  and  resentments  were 


142  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

with  us  held  back;  and  some  abandoned  us  at  a  late 
period.     The  Republicans  in  the  city  had  little  hope. 

The  belief  was  general  in  the  city  and  State,  and 
among  all  parties,  even  to  the  election,  that  we  should 
fail,  and  that  the  "  Ring  "  would  hold  a  majority. 

FURTHER    COLLECTION    OF   PROOFS. 

After  the  election  it  was  urged  by  Mr.  O'Conor, 
Mr.  Havemeyer,  and  Mr.  Green,  that  I  ought  to  continue 
the  investigations  by  which  the  judicial  evidence  of  the 
frauds  should  be  collected  and  preserved ;  that  this 
work  was  more  important  than  even  the  preparation  of 
legislation.  In  deference  to  their  views,  I  gave  my 
time  to  the  work  during  all  the  six  weeks  until  the 
legislative  session  commenced,  and  in  every  interval  at 
my  command  for  many  months  afterwards.  When  the 
investigations  commenced,  there  were  no  means  by 
which  disclosure  could  be  compelled,  that  were  not  in 
the  hands  of  the  accused  parties,  except  a  grand  jury 
whose  sessions  were  prolonged  for  several  months.  A 
vast  mass  of  accurate  information  has  been  collected 
and  preserved,  which  is  the  basis  of  nearly  all  judicial 
proofs  that  have  been  obtained. 

JUDICIAL  REFORM. 

It  was  the  opinion  of  our  best  men,  as  it  was  my 
own,  that  a  reform  in  the  administration  of  justice,  as 
it  was  carried  on  in  the  judicial  department  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  was  not  only  intrinsically  the  most 


MII.  TILDEN'S  OWN  EECOKD.  143 

important  to  the  welfare,  safety,  and  honor  of  our 
community,  but  was  a  measure  without  which  every 
other  reform  would  prove  nugatory ;  and  that  the  op 
portunity  of  effecting  it  at  the  last  session  could  not 
be  allowed  to  pass  unimproved  without  leaving  us,  for 
an  indefinite  period,  subject  to  the  intolerable  evils  and 
scandals  which  had  recently  grown  up,  and  to  the 
world-wide  disrepute  they  had  occasioned.  As  a 
citizen  and  a  lawyer,  trained  amid  better  standards,  I 
had  seen  the  descent  of  the  bench  and  the  bar  with 
inexpressible  concern.  I  had  often  questioned  with 
Mr.  O'Conor,  whether  those  of  us  at  the  bar,  who  had 
ceased  to  be  dependent  for  a  livelihood  upon  profes 
sional  earnings,  ought  not  feel  ourselves  under  a  provi 
dential  call,  on  the  first  opportunity,  to  open  to  the 
younger  members  of  the  profession  a  better  future  than 
that  which  was  closing  in  upon  them,  —  a  future  in 
which  personal  and  professional  honor  would  not  be 
incompatible  with  pecuniary  success.  I  had  advised  a 
son  of  Francis  Kernan,  who  came  here  to  begin  a 
career,  to  return  to  Utica,  rather  than  confront  the 
degrading  competition  to  which  a  young  man  would  be 
exposed.  In  the  heat  of  an  extemporaneous  speech  at 
the  Cooper  Institute,  I  had  become  committed  to  this 
cause. 

It  seemed  to  me  a  paramount  duty,  to  press  a  move 
ment  for  that  object  with  all  the  concentration  and 
persistence  requisite  to  success ;  and  there  never  was  a 
moment  by  day  or  night,  during  all  the  session,  when 


144  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

any  thing  which  it  was  possible  to  do  could  be  safely 
omitted.  There  were  several  periods  of  general  de 
spondency,  and  frequent  crises  in  which  the  cause  had 
to  be  rescued. 

It  early  came  to  the  knowledge  of  Mr.  Peckham,  Mr. 
O'Conor,  and  myself,  that  a  large,  fund  was  attempted 
to  be  raised  for  the  purpose  of  corrupting  the  Com 
mittee  and  the  Assembly,  in  the  interest  of  the  accused 
judges.  Even  after  the  impeachment  was  adopted  by 
the  Assembly,  —  when  general  despair  was  felt  at  the 
choice  of  managers,  —  the  lost  ground  was  promptly 
recovered  by  a  measure  initiated  by  myself.  It  was  an 
arrangement  by  which  the  selection  of  counsel  was  to 
be  satisfactory  to  the  Bar  Association. . 

Attention  to  the  completion  of  this  object,  to  the 
conduct  of  the  suits  which  had  been  commenced,  to 
the  gathering-in  of  the  fruits  of  the  investigations, 
and  to  other  accessory  work  necessary  to  finish  the 
original  undertakings,  occupied  most  of  the  summer. 

CONCLUSION. 

On  the  whole,  I  have  given  sixteen  months  of  time 
to  these  public  objects,  with  as  incessant  and  earnest 
efforts  as  I  ever  applied  to  any  purpose.  The  total 
surrender  of  my  professional  business  during  that 
period,  the  nearly  absolute  withdrawal  of  attention 
from  my  private  affairs  and  from  all  enterprises  in 
which  I  am  interested,  have  cost  me  a  loss  of  actual 
income  which,  with  the  expenditures  and  contributions 


ME.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  145 

the  contest  has  required,  would  be  a  respectable  endow 
ment  of  a  public  charity.  The  surrender  of  two  sum 
mers,  after  I  had  shaped  all  my  engagements  to  take 
my  first  vacation  in  many  years,  was  a  serious  sacrifice. 

I  do  not  speak  of  these  things  to  regret  them.  In 
my  opinion,  no  instrumentality  in  human  society  is  so 
potential  in  its  influence  on  the  well-being  of  mankind 
as  the  governmental  machinery  which  administers  jus 
tice,  and  makes  and  executes  laws.  No  benefaction  of 
private  benevolence  could  be  so  fruitful  in  benefits  as 
the  rescue  of  this  machinery  from  the  perversion  which 
had  made  it  a  means  of  conspiracy,  fraud,  and  crime, 
against  the  rights  and  the  most  sacred  interests  of  a 
great  community. 

The  cancer  which  reached  a  head  in  the  municipal 
government  of  the  metropolis  gathered  its  virus  from 
the  corrupted  blood  which  pervades  our  whole  country. 
Everywhere  there  are  violated  public  and  private  trusts. 
The  carpet-bag  governments  are  cancers  on  the  body 
politic,  even  more  virulent  than  the  New  York  "  Ring." 

I  felt  impelled  to  deal  with  the  evil  here,  because  an 
offence  which  is  directly  before  one's  eyes  is  doubly  an 
offence,  and  because  it  was  within  our  reach  ;  while  to 
renovate  government  throughout  the  United  States  is  a 
work  of  great  difficulty,  taking  time,  large  hope  of  the 
future,  and  long-continued  efforts  towards  reformation. 
If  the  world  cannot  be  changed,  it  is  something  to 
make  one's  own  home  fitter  to  live  in. 

A  reaction  must  begin  somewhere.     I  have  not  lost 


146  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

hope  that  free  government  upon  this  continent  may  yet 
be  saved.  I  remember  that  nations  have  experienced 
great  changes  for  the  better,  in  manners  and  in  morals, 
after  long  periods  of  decay.  There  are  some  good 
signs  in  our  own  horizon.  Last  month,  when  a  gigantic 
controversy  of  the  stock  market  reached  the  courts, 
none  of  the  journals  inquired,  "Which  side  owns  the 
judge  ?  "  At  any  time  within  the  last  three  years,  that 
would  have  been  the  only  theme. 

The  money  articles  have  ceased  to  treat  their  readers 
to  admiring  discussions  of  the  relative  dexterity  with 
which  men  of  colossal  capitals,  first  citizens  of  the 
metropolis,  representatives  of  its  moneyed  aristocracy, 
contend  with  each  other  in  feats  which  have  a  moral 
aspect  about  like  cheating  at  cards.  Since  the  smell  of 
the  paper-money  afflatus  in  1863,  the  absence  of  such 
discussions  is  a  refreshing  novelty  at  our  breakfasts. 
Even  on  the  cheek  of  a  member  of  Congress  begins  to 
rise  a  delicate  hue  of  doubt  in  being  discovered  to  have 
had  a  pecuniary  interest  in  a  public  question  on  which 
he  has  voted.  Amid  the  blackness  of  successful  wrong 
which  overspreads  the  whole  heavens,  are  these  little 
gleams  of  a  revival  of  the  public  conscience.  If  its 
growth  shall  be  as  steady,  as  rapid,  and  as  persistent,  as 
has  been  its  decay  during  the  last  two  years,  every 
where  throughout  the  country  will  come  revolutions  of 
measures  and  of  men. 

If  the  work  to  which  I  have  given  so  freely,  accord 
ing  to  the  measure  of  my  abilities,  shall  stand,  I  will 


MR.  TILDEN'S  OWN  RECORD.  147 

not  compete  for  its  honors,  nor  care  for  falsehood   or 
calumny  concerning  the  part  I  have  borne  in  it. 

If  it  is  to  fail  once  more  ;  if  the  people  of  this 
metropolis,  if  the  Republican  citizens  of  culture  and 
property,  whose  interests  are  deeply  involved  in  a  •  good 
municipal  government,  and  who  are  now  to  show 
whether  they  will  stand  against  bad  measures  in  their 
own  party,  shall  shamefully  consent  to  a  repetition  of 
the  fraudulent  devices  of  the  Tweed  charter  of  1870,  — 
theirs,  not  mine,  will  be  the  responsibility. 

S.   J.   TlLDEN. 
NEW  YORK,  Jan.  27,  1873. 

The  preceding  long  quotations  have  been  made, 
first,  from  the  statements  of  others  respecting  Mr.  Til- 
den's  work  in  breaking  up  the  New  York  "  Ring  ;  "  and 
second,  confirmed  by  Mr.  Tilden's  statements  given 
by  himself,  under  his  own  signature,  at  the  time.  Thus 
it  will  be  seen  by  the  reader,  that  what  is  here  written 
by  him  has  not  been  done  since  he  was  nominated  as 
a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  nor  for  campaign  pur 
poses.  Indeed,  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  have 
given  any  thing  like  a  full  and  fair  sketch  of  his  life, 
without  bringing  in  the  work  which  he  did  in  destroy 
ing  the  "  Ring  "  which  had  cheated  the  city  of  New  York 
out  of  ten  millions  of  dollars,  and  was  in  a  fair  way  to 
swindle  it  out  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  more. 

It  will,  also,  be  seen  by  the  reader,  that  I  have  given 
the  statements  of  "  The  Times  "  newspaper,  against  Mr. 


148  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

Tilden,  and  his  answers  to  them,  so  that  the  whole  sub 
ject  is  here  brought  before  the  reader,  and  he  can  form 
his  own  opinion  as  to  whether  Mr.  Tilden  is  worthy  of 
praise  and  commendation,  or  of  censure  and  blame,  for 
the  prominent  part  which  he  took  in  this  great  work. 

A  biographer  or  an  historian  is  unworthy  of  the 
trust,  if  he  does  not  state  facts,  let  them  strike  where 
they  may.  This  the  Compiler  of  this  volume  designs 
to  do,  and  will  do,  so  far  as  he  is  able  from  the  record ; 
and,  if  he  did  not  do  this,  his  statements  would  be  but 
one-sided,  and  consequently  unworthy  of  credence. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ME.  TILDEN'S  WAR  RECORD,  AND  THAT  OF  GOVEKNOE 
OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Gov.  Tilden  believed  that  Slavery  was  guaranteed  by  the  Constitu 
tion.  —  Both  Garrison  and  Phillips  believed  this.  —  Charles  Sum- 
ner  differed  from  them.  —  Mr.  Tilden  endeavored  to  avert  the 
War.  —  When  it  came,  he  said  Pres.  Lincoln  should  have 
called  out  Five  Hundred  Thousand  Men.  —  This  was  the  Opinion 
of  Many  Others,  also.  —  Mr.  Tilden  believed  that  the  War  should 
have  been  conducted  upon  Sound  Financial  Principles.  —  Many 
supposed  Secretary  Chase's  Plan  for  raising  Money  a  bad  one.  — 
Secretary  Seward's  Prediction  that  the  war  would  end  in  Xinety 
Days.  —  Mr.  Tilden' s  Record  as  Governor.  —  Quotation  from  Sen 
ator  Kernan's  Speech.  —  The  Democrats  contend  that  Mr.  Tilden, 
placed  in  the  White  House,  would  reduce  the  National  Expenses 
One  Half. 

IT  has  been  intimated  to  me,  that  Mr.  Tilden's  war 
record  is  not  good.  "Well,  my  business  is  to  give  it  as 
it  was.  If  not  good,  let  him  bear  the  reproach  of  it. 
If  good,  let  him  have  the  praise  of  it. 

That  he  was  one  of  those  who  believed  that  slavery 
was  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  is  beyond  a  doubt.  Conservative  Whigs  and 
Conservative  Democrats  both  believed  this.  It  was 

149 


150  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

the   creed   of  Daniel  Webster,  who   was   called  "  the 
Defender  of  the  Constitution." 

In  this  opinion  extremes  met.  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  and  Wendell  Phillips  both  believed  that 
slavery  was  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution ;  and  for 
this  reason  Garrison  called  it  "  a  covenant  with  death, 
and  a  league  with  hell,"  and  Mr.  Phillips  relinquished 
his  Commission  as  a  Justice  of  the  peace  because  he 
would  hold  no  office  under  such  a  government. 

The  prevailing  opinion  was,  that  slavery  was  guar 
anteed  in  the  Constitution.  I  am  aware  that  Charles 
Sumner  took  a  different  view  of  this  matter  from  others 
of  his  anti-slavery  coadjutors.  He  maintained  that 
"slavery  was  sectional,  not  national." 

It  is  evident  from  the  record,  that  Mr.  Tilden  was  on 
the  conservative  side  of  this  question.  His  acts  and 
his  writings  showed  this. 

He  endeavored  to  avert  the  war.  He  did  all  in  his 
power  to  preserve  peace  between  the  North  and  the 
South. 

But  the  war  came.  It  was  evidently,  as  is  now  seen, 
a  blessing  in  disguise.  It  accomplished  what  there  was 
no  prospect  of  accomplishing  when  it  commenced, — 
the  abolition  of  slavery.  Slavery  was  as  strong,  as 
rampant,  as  boastful,  the  day  Fort  Sumter  was  fired 
upon,  as  it  ever  had  been ;  and  had  the  South  been 
content  to  fight  out  their  contest  in  the  Union,  instead 
of  out  of  it,  it  is  believed  slavery  would  have  con 
tinued  until  this  day,  and  how  much  longer,  no  man 
knoweth. 


MR.  TILDEN'S  WAR  RECORD.  151 

The  finger  of  the  Almighty  was  in  that  event,  as  all 
now  see,  both  North  and  South.  It  is  on  the  record, 
that,  till  the  war  came,  Mr.  Tilden  made  all  possible 
efforts  to  avoid  it.  This  is  admitted  by  all.  But  the 
question  before  us  now  is,  What  was  his  record  after 
the  war  was  commenced  ? 

Till  the  war  came,  Gov.  Tilden  labored  to  avert  it. 
So  did  most  of  the  conservatives  of  the  North.  Indeed, 
after  Abraham  Lincoln  was  elected,  well  do  we  remem 
ber  the  efforts  put  forth  at  the  North  to  pacify  the 
South.  In  Philadelphia,  where  the  writer  then  lived, 
every  effort  was  made,  even  by  the  Republicans,  to  avert 
a  war,  and  to  please  the  South.  Even  Mayor  Henry,  a 
zealous  Republican,  said  to  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  "  I 
advise  you  not  to  lecture,  for  I  cannot  assure  you  that 
the  building  will  not  be  pulled  down  over  your  head." 
It  is  true,  this  was  not  the  feeling  of  everybody.  But 
it  is  also  true,  that  it  was  shared  by  many,  both  Repub 
licans  and  Democrats  ;  and,  from  the  record,  it  appears 
to  have  been  the  view  of  Gov.  Tilden.  It  was  from 
such  a  feeling  that  it  was  hoped  the  war  would  be 
averted. 

In  the  winter  of  1860-61,  Mr.  Tilden  attended  a 
meeting  of  prominent  citizens  of  both  Republicans 
and  Democrats,  to  see  what  could  be  done  to  prevent 
a  civil  war  between  the  North  and  the  South.  He 
urged  upon  the  North  reconciliation  and  forbearance, 
having  very  clear  views  of  the  sad  consequences  that 
would  follow  a  war  between  the  Northern  and  South- 


152  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN.  • 

ern  States.  Upon  the  South,  he  urged  submission  to 
the  will  of  the  majority,  and  respect  for  the  Federal 
Constitution,  assuring  them  that  their  only  safety  was 
in  the  Union,  and  not  out  of  it.  Had  the  mad  politi 
cians  of  that  part  of  our  country  heeded  this  advice, 
it  had  been  for  their  good,  and  would  have  saved  a 
multitude  of  precious  lives. 

But,  when  the  war  actually  came,  where  should  we 
have  expected  to  find  Mr.  Tilden?  He  had  been 
trained  in  the  school  of  Andrew  Jackson ;  and  who 
does  not  know  the  Union  proclivities  of  Jackson? 
Was  there  ever  a  stronger  Union  man  than  he  ?  Was 
it  not  he  who  quelled  the  nullification  rebellion  in 
1833? 

Now,  as  Tilden  had  been  brought  up  in  this  school ; 
as  with  his  mother's  milk  he  had  swallowed  this  doc 
trine  ;  as,  with  the  earliest  instruction  of  his  father,  it 
had  been  the  meat  upon  which  he  fed,  —  where,  it 
may  be  asked,  would  one  have  expected  to  find 
Samuel  Jones  Tilden,  when  the  first  gun  had  been 
fired  upon  the  flag  of  our  Union  ?  Well,  where  does 
the  record  show  that  he  was  ?  "  He  was  ready  to  main 
tain  the  integrity  of  our  territory,  and  the  supremacy 
of  the  constitutional  authorities."  As  he  had  carefully 
studied  the  relations  between  the  Federal  and  State 
governments,  and  had  a  perfect  understanding  of  them, 
so  he  never  wavered  as  to  preserving  the  constitutional 
rights  and  government  of  the  nation. 

Well    do    I    remember,    when    Fort    Sumter    was 


ME.  TILDEN'S  WAR  KECOKD.  153 

attacked,  what  an  effect  it  produced,  as  the  tidings 
rolled  up  towards  the  North.  It  was  a  very  different 
feeling  from  what  the  South  had  expected ;  and  no 
people  were  ever  more  disappointed  than  they  were,  at 
such  an  effect. 

Undoubtedly,  they  had  been  looking  for  aid  and 
sympathy  from  a  portion  of  the  people  at  the  North ; 
but  in  this  they  were  greatly  disappointed.  It  must 
be  confessed,  that,  here  and  there,  a  man  was  found  to 
sympathize  with  them ;  but  even  these  deplored  their 
folly. 

From  the  outburst  of  that  fiery  contest,  every  sensi 
ble  man  who  had  any  knowledge  of  the  strength  of 
the  North  and  West,  and  of  the  weakness  of  the  South, 
knew  how  it  would  end.  The  writer,  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  war,  had  under  his  treatment  a 
Baptist  clergyman  from  Charleston,  S.C.  About  the 
time  Fort  Sumter  received  the  first  shot,  he  left 
Charleston  for  Philadelphia,  to  be  treated  for  epilepsy 
(from  which  he  recovered).  His  name  was  Charles  M. 
Breaker.  He  said  to  me  one  day,  "  I  am  a  South- 
Carolinian,  and  my  sympathies  are  all  with  the  South. 
I  own  property  there,  both  houses  and  slaves.  I  have 
travelled  through  the  whole  Union.  I  know  the 
strength  of  the  North,  and  the  comparative  weakness 
of  the  South ;  and  I  know  that  it  is  as  impossible  for 
the  South  to  overcome  the  North,  or  to  gain  their 
independence,  as  it  would  be  for  a  kitten  to  whip  a 
Hon." 


154  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

He  judged  this  from  what  he  had  seen,  and  the 
judgment  was  a  wise  one ;  and  it  was  the  opinion  of 
those  who  knew  the  strength  of  the  two  portions  of 
the  country. 

A  meeting  was  held  at  the  house  of  Gen.  Dix  in 
New  York,  immediately  after  Pres.  Lincoln's  first  call 
for  seventy-five  thousand  troops,  at  which  Mr,.  Tilclen 
was  present,  and  took  part  in  the  discussion.  He 
expressed  the  opinion  that  we  were  at  the  beginning 
of  a  great  war,  and  said,  Pres.  Lincoln  should  have 
called  out  at  least  five  hundred  thousand,  instead  of 
seventy-five  thousand,  men ;  that,  one-half  of  them 
should  be  for  immediate  service,  and  the  other  half 
put  in  camps  to  receive  military  instruction. 

Many  others,  at  the  time  that  call  was  issued,  felt 
and  expressed  a  similar  opinion.  They  believed  and 
still  believe,  that,  if  Mr.  Lincoln  had  called  for  a  million 
of  troops,  at  that  time,  the  spirit  and  feeling  of  the 
country  were  such,  that  they  would  have  been  readily 
furnished,  and  that  the  war  would  have  been  speedily 
ended.  Who  does  not  remember  the  alacrity  with 
which  that  call  for  seventy-five  thousand  troops  was 
responded  to  ?  Volunteers  were  so  numerous  that  they 
could  scarcely  be  counted,  and  companies  were  organ 
ized  in  many  of  the  States ;  and,  when  informed  that 
they  could  not  be  received,  they  were  greatly  chagrined 
and  disappointed. 

But  after  the  war  was  begun,  and  blood  had  been 
shed,  and  the  Union  army  had  experienced  a  "  Bull 


155 

Run  "  defeat,  volunteers  did  not  so  readily  offer.  Had 
Mr.  Lincoln  called  for  a  million  troops  at  that  time,  it 
would  have  saved  all  the  bounty-money  that  was  after 
wards  paid  for  volunteers,  and  there  would  have  been 
no  necessity  for  the  draft.  Many  then  believed,  and 
still  believe,  that  calling  for  only  seventy-five  thousand 
troops  was  one  of  the  greatest  mistakes  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  Administration,  and  that,  if  Mr.  Tilden's  sug 
gestion  had  been  complied  with,  many  lives  would  have 
been  saved,  and  much  treasure,  with  a  speedier  end  of 
the  war.  Unfortunately,  neither  Mr.  Lincoln,  neither 
Secretary  Seward,  nor,  indeed,  any  of  the  members  of 
the  Cabinet,  seemed  to  have  any  adequate  idea  of  the 
strength  of  the  South,  and  the  preparations  which  they 
had  made  for  the  war.  The  prediction  of  Secretary 
Seward,  that  the  war  would  be  ended  in  ninety  days, 
was  believed  by  many  at  the  time  to  be  that  of  a  false 
prophet,  as  he  proved  to  be,  to  the  great  regret  of  the 
Union. 

As  it  was,  soldiers  were  raised  and  put  into  the  field 
just  fast  enough  to  encourage  and  feed  the  war  spirit 
of  the  South.  While  they  would  have  been  frightened 
and  overwhelmed  at  seeing  a  million  men  flocking  to  the 
standard  of  Pres.  Lincoln,  they  merely  laughed  at  the 
idea  of  our  subduing  them  with  seventy-five  thousand. 

When  the  war  had  been  in  progress  for  some  two 
years,  Mr.  Tilden  was  invited  by  the  Administration  at 
Washington  to  give  his  advice  as  to  the  further  conduct 
of  the  war.  He  said,  — 


156  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES    TILDEN. 

"  You  have  no  right  to  expect  a  great  military  genius 
to  come  to  your  assistance.  They  only  appear  once  in 
two  or  three  centuries.  You  will  probably  have  to 
depend  upon  the  average  military  talent  of  the  coun 
try.  Under  such  circumstances,  your  only  course  is,  to 
avail  yourself  of  your  numerical  strength  and  your 
superior  military  resources  resulting  from  your  greater 
progress  in  industrial  arts  and  your  greater  producing 
capacities.  You  must  have  reserves,  and  concentrate 
your  forces  on  decisive  points,  and  overwhelm  your 
adversaries  by  disproportionate  numbers  and  reserves." 

This  advice  was  not  followed ;  but,  within  a  year 
after  it  was  given,  Mr.  Tilden  had  the  satisfaction  to 
hear  the  Secretary  of  War  acknowledge  its  wisdom, 
and  lament  his  inability  to  comply  with  it. 

Mr.  Tilden  believed,  and  expressed  to  Secretary 
Chase  and  his  friends  that  belief,  that  the  war  ought 
to  be  carried  on  under  a  system  of  sound  financial 
principles  ;  and  that,  if  the  Government  would  adopt 
such  a  course,  the  people  would  sustain  it. 

Many  believed,  in  harmony  with  this  opinion,  that  the 
financial  course  pursued  by  Mr.  Chase  was  a  bad  one ; 
that  the  creation  of  national  banks,  and  the  inflation 
of  the  currency,  were  all  in  a  wrong  direction ;  and  to 
this  day  there  are  many  stanch  Republicans,  as  well  as 
Democrats,  who  feel  and  express  the  opinion  that  direct 
taxation  would  have  been  a  much  wiser  course  for  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  have  adopted.  Indeed, 
whichever  course  might  have  seemed  the  wiser  one,  we 


MR.  TILDEN'S  WAR  RECORD.  157 

at  this  present  time  are  fully  assured  that  our  financial 
matters  could  not  be  in  a  worse  or  more  unsatisfactory 
condition  than  they  now  are. 

Thus  it  would  seem  that  Mr.  Tilden's  opinion 
respecting  the  extent  and  power  of  the  Rebellion,  and 
the  number  of  men  necessary  to  put  it  down,  the  way 
in  which  the  war  should  have  been  conducted,  and  the 
finances  of  the  country,  were  in  harmony  with  that  of 
many  of  the  wise  men,  both  of  the  Republican  and 
Democratic  parties. 

Latterly,  Mr.  Tilden  has  been  accused  of  having  been 
instrumental  in  introducing  to  the  Democratic  platform 
of  1864,  the  plank  declaring  the  war  a  failure.  But 
this  charge  is  stated  to  be  false  by  Mr.  Manton  Mar 
ble,  who  was  prominent  in  that  Convention.  He  says, 
"  Gov.  Tilden  opposed  in  Committee  that  portion  of  the 
resolution  saying,  4  After  four  years  of  failure  to 
preserve  the  war,  &c.'  He  got  it  struck  out,  and  even 
refused  to  agree  with  the  Resolution  as  amended.  It 
was  then  irregularly  restored.  Gov.  Tilden  at  all  stages 
refused  to  agree  to  the  Resolution,  and  sent  a  message 
by  me  to  Gen.  McClellan,  advising  him  to  discard  it  in 
his  letter  of  acceptance.  Gov.  Tilden,  moreover,  made 
a  speech  in  the  New  York  delegation  against  an  armis 
tice,  which  was  briefly  reported  by  me  in  4  The  New  York 
World,'  and  is  correctly  cited  by  the  4  Courier  Journal.' 
I  was  personally  present  in  the  New  York  delegation, 
and  all  meetings  of  the  committee  in  an  adjoining 


158  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

The  compiler  is  fully  aware  that  many  of  the  partisan 
or  Republican  papers  have  made  statements  derogatory 
to  a  good  record  of  Gov.  Tilden's  conduct  during  the 
war.  He  is  also  equally  apprised  of  the  fact  that  the 
Democratic  organs  have  persistently  denied  these  allega 
tions.  It  is  by  no  manner  of  means  incumbent  upon 
him  to  attempt  to  reconcile  these  diverse  opinions.  He 
has  given  quotations  from  Mr.  Tilden's  statements  as 
above,  and  from  those  of  his  friends,  and  they  must  pass 
with  the  reader  for  what  they  are  worth ;  and  every 
man  is  entitled  to  be  believed,  until  his  statements  have 
been  proved  false. 

Mr.  Tilden's  record  as  Governor  of  the  State  of  New 
York  here  follows  as  in  a  few  sentences  taken  from 
Senator  Kernan's  speech,  when  he  nominated  Mr.  Til- 
den  for  the  Presidency  in  the  late  Convention  at  St. 
Louis.  Senator  Kernan  said,  "  He  [Tilden]  was  selected 
as  Governor  of  our  State.  He  came  into  office  on  the 
1st  of  January,  1875.  The  direct  taxes  taken  from  tax- 
ridden  people  in  the  State  of  New  York  were  over  fifteen 
million  dollars  in  the  tax  levy  of  1875.  He  has  been  in 
office  eighteen  months ;  and  the  tax  levy  for  the  State 
of  New  York  in  1876  is  but  eight  million  dollars.  If 
you  go  among  our  farming  people,  among  our  men  who 
find  business  coming  down,  and  their  produce  bringing 
low  prices,  you  will  find  that  they  have  faith  in  the  man 
who  has  reduced  taxation  in  the  State  of  New  York 
one-half  in  eighteen  months ;  and  you  will  hear  the  hon 
est  men  throughout  the  country  say  that  they  want  the 


159 

man  who  will  do  at  Washington  what  has  been  done  in 
New  York." 

If  Gov.  Tilden  in  eighteen  months  has  reduced  the 
expenses  one-half  in  the  State  of  New  York,  the  Demo 
crats  contend  with  much  plausibility,  that,  if  he  were 
placed  in  the  White  House  at  Washington,  he  would 
reduce  the  national  expenditure  of  the  government  in 
equal  proportion. 


CHAPTER  X. 

TWO  GREAT  MEN'S   OPINIONS  OF  ME.   TILDEN. 

The  Work  done  at  St.  Louis.  —  Do  the  Circumstances  of  the  Country 
demand  a  Change? — Mr.  Curtis's  Knowledge  of  Mr.  Tilden.  — 
If  Mr.  Tilden  is  elected,  it  will  be  because  the  People  demand  it.  — 
The  Republican  Party  cannot  rescue  the  Country  from  its  present 
Financial  Condition. — The  Kind  of  Man  wanted. —  Mr.  Curtis's 
Views  of  the  Change  for  the  worse  in  the  Wharves  and  Docks  of 
New  York.  —  Where  the  larger  Share  of  Blame  for  the  War 
belongs.  —  What  the  Republican  Party  has  to  boast  of.  —  What 
has  the  Republican  Party  done  towards  resuming  Specie  Pay 
ments? —  Selections  from  Parke  Godwin's  Letter. — His  Personal 
Acquaintance  with  Mr.  Tilden.  —  His  Rank  as  a  Statesman.  —  His 
Administration  as  Governor  of  New  York. — Gov.  Tilden's  Work 
in  overthrowing  the  Tweed  Ring.  —  Mr.  Godwin's  Advice  to  his 
late  Colleagues  of  the  Conference  in  New  York. 

HAVING  finished  what  I  have  to  say  of  Mr.  Tilden 
personally,  and  from  what  he  has  written  himself,  I 
now  allow  two  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  the 
Republic  to  give  their  opinion  of  him  and  of  the  politi 
cal  parties  as  now  existing  :  — 

A  LETTER  FROM  MR.   GEORGE  TICKNOR   CURTIS   TO 
HON.   F.   O.   PRINCE. 

FAR  ROCKAWAY,  L.I.,  July  1,  1876. 
MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  The  good  work  done  at  St.  Louis, 

160 


TWO   GREAT   MEN'S   OPINIONS   OF  MR.    TILDEN.  101 

which  your  delegation  by  their  firmness  did  so  much  to 
promote,  imposes  upon  all  Democrats  the  duty  of  labor 
ing  for  the  success  of  our  cause.  I  do  not  know  what 
may  be  the  chances  in  my  native  State  ;  but  I  feel  a 
strong  desire  to  see  it  range  itself  on  the  side  of  that 
reformation  in  our  National  Government  for  which  the 
nomination  of  Tilden  and  Hendricks  affords  so  excellent 
a  promise  and  so  clear  a  prospect.  I  suppose  that  the 
contest  in  Massachusetts  will  be  a  close  one,  and  that 
the  success  of  the  Democratic  ticket,  there  as  well  as 
here,  must  depend  upon  the  willingness  of  voters  who 
have  heretofore  acted  with  the  Republican  party  to  lay 
aside  their  prejudices  against  the  name  of  Democrat, 
and  to  act  upon  the  conviction  that  the  welfare  of  the 
country  requires  a  change,  both  of  measures  and  of 
men.  I  hear  it  constantly  said  by  Republicans,  in 
reference  to  the  public  feeling  of  this  State,  that  New 
York  is  essentially  a  Republican  State  ;  and  that  while 
many  Republicans  may  have  been  willing  to  have  Mr. 
Tilden  made  governor,  and  even  voted  for  him  because 
they  expected  and  believed  he  would  govern  the  State 
honestly  and  wisely,  yet  that  they  will  not  vote  to 
make  him  President  of  the  United  States,  because  they 
will  not  consent  to  have  the  National  Government  put 
into  the  hands  of  a  Democratic  administration.  This 
kind  of  prejudice  will  be  appealed  to  everywhere,  by 
the  leaders  and  orators  of  the  Republican  party,  as  well 
as  here  ;  and,  although  it  is  a  very  intangible  sort  of 
sentiment,  it  is  our  duty  to  meet  it  and  reason  with  it 


162  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

as  specifically  as  its  nature  may  admit  of,  and  with 
entire  candor  and  directness  of  purpose.  Of  course, 
no  one  can  expect  to  reach  the  office-holding  classes,  or 
to  influence  by  any  arguments  those  whose  political 
feelings  and  prejudices  are  incapable  of  being  softened 
by  any  considerations  whatever.  But  among  the 
masses  of  voters  who  have  hitherto  voted  with  the 
Republican  party  there  are  multitudes  of  men  who  are 
as  unselfish  and  as  patriotic  in  their  political  conduct 
as  it  is  possible  for  men  of  average  purity  and  intelli 
gence  to  be  ;  and  with  such  men  "  now  is  the  day,  and 
now  the  hour,"  to  reason  calmly  and  candidly. 

The  question  for  the  consideration  of  such  men  is : 
Do  not  the  circumstances  of  the  country  now  require  a 
change  of  administration  ?  and  what  rational  objection 
can  there  be  to  the  accomplishment  of  that  change  by 
making  Gov.  Tilden  President  ?  The  latter  part  of  this 
question  can  be  best  answered  by  considering  who  and 
what  Mr.  Tilden,  is  and  what  sort  of  a  President  he  is 
morally  certain  to  be  if  chosen. 

I  have  known  him  personally  and  well  for  about  four 
teen  years  in  that  kind  of  intercourse  which  enables 
one  man  to  measure  another ;  but  I  am  not  conscious 
that  I  have  ever  incurred  any  considerable  obligations 
to  him.  I  suppose  that  I  enjoy  as  much  of  his  respect 
as  I  am  entitled  to ;  but  I  have  not  the  honor  of  his 
particular  friendship.  What  I  say  of  him,  therefore,  is 
fairly  to  be  considered  as  impartial.  That  he  is  a  states 
man  of  very  wide  and  comprehensive  views  of  public 


TWO   GREAT   MEN'S   OPINIONS   OF  MR.   TILDEN.  163 

questions,  and  that  he  also  possesses  great  and  accurate 
knowledge  of  many  subjects  belonging  to  the  details  of 
government,  is  what  no  one  can  hesitate  to  assert  who 
has  observed  his  public  career  as  closely  as  I  have.  I 
hear  and  see  it  said  that  he  has  never  held  office  of  any 
kind  under  the  Federal  Government.  This  is  by  no 
means  a  disqualification  for  the  office  of  President  of 
the  United  States.  It  is  possible  for  a  man  who  has  a 
natural  and  an  acquired  aptitude  for  public  affairs,  to 
know  as  much  of  the  nature  of  our  institutions,  to 
understand  as  much  of  the  Federal  jurisprudence  and 
legislation,  and  to  appreciate  as  well  all  questions  that 
may  have  arisen  or  are  likely  to  arise  in  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  Federal  Government,  without  ever  having 
held  an  office  under  it,  as  he  could  if  he  had  gone  through 
the  whole  grade  of  its  offices,  from  that  of  a  postmaster 
to  that  of  senator  or  cabinet  minister.  I  grant  that  the 
class  of  men  in  our  country  of  whom  this  can  be  said, 
and  who  have  reached  the  age  of  sixty  without  having 
held  any  Federal  office,  is  not  a  large  class ;  but  that 
Gov.  Tilden  belongs  to  this  class,  and  that  he  is  an  emi 
nent  example  of  such  men,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm. 
I  should  cheerfully  have  given  my  vote,  if  I  had  been  a 
member  of  the  St.  Louis  Convention,  to  Mr.  Thurman, 
or  Mr.  Bayard,  or  Mr.  Hendricks,  as  candidate  for  the 
office  of  President,  all  of  whom  have  held  Federal  office ; 
but,  in  balancing  between  either  of  them  and  Gov.  Til- 
den  or  Gov.  Seymour,  I  should  not  have  been  influenced 
at  all  by  the  fact  that  neither  of  the  two  last  named  has 


164  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

ever  held  any  position  in  the  Federal  Government.  The 
truth  is,  in  my  estimation,  that  any  man  who  is  entitled 
to  be  considered  a  statesman,  and  who  has  had  the 
political  experience  and  followed  the  political  studies 
which  we  know  to  have  been  the  experience  and  the 
studies  of  Mr.  Tilden  and  Mr.  Seymour,  is  as  well  quali 
fied  to  be  President  as  are  any  of  those  who  have  held 
Federal  offices.  The  objection  is  one  that  will  not  have 
much  weight  with  the  people. 

In  the  next  place,  let  us  consider  the  fact,  that,  if  Mr. 
Tilden  is  elected  President,  he  will  be  elected  because 
the  public  voice  demands  that  the  executive  branch  of 
the  National  Government  shall  be  taken  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  Republican  party,  and  be  intrusted  to  one 
who  will  use  all  its  influence  and  all  its  power  to  purify 
it  from  the  abuses  and  corruptions  which  the  Republi 
can  party  has  brought  upon  us.  The  issue  is  between 
reformation  and  no  reformation ;  for  all  experience  of 
free  governments  and  all  common-sense  concur  in 
teaching  us,  that,  when  a  political  party  that  has  long 
had  the  possession  of  power  has  introduced  or  has 
tolerated  great  abuses  and  great  corruptions,  the  only 
reformation  that  can  be  practicably  secured  is  to  be 
secured  by  turning  out  that  party,  and  putting  in 
another.  If  Gov.  Tilden  becomes  President,  he  will  be 
placed  in  that  position  because  public  opinion  demands 
a  thorough  reformation  in  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  and  because  the  people  have  seen  that 
they  have  no  other  means  of  securing  that  reformation 


TWO  GREAT  MEN'S   OPINIONS   OF  MR.   TILDEN.  165 

excepting  by  transferring  the  Executive  office  to  a 
Democrat.  ^Fortunately  for  the  people,  and  fortunately 
for  Gov.  Tilden  himself,  the  circumstances  of  his  can 
didature  make  it  his  highest  ambition  and  his  strongest 
personal  interest  to  become  a  patriot  President ;  to  enter 
upon  and  to  administer  the  office  with  no  personal 
resentments  to  gratify,  with  no  friends  unduly  or  im 
properly  to  reward,  and  with  no  one  to  punish  except 
ing  those  whom  public  justice  may  demand  shall  be 
made  to  suffer  for  actual  crime,  or  who  ought  to  be 
made  to  give  place  to  better  public  servants.  His 
administration,  therefore,  while  it  will  necessarily  be 
Democratic,  will  be  bound  by  every  necessity  that  can 
surround  and  press  upon  a  National  administration  to 
govern  the  country  with  a  single  eye  to  the  public  good. 
The  Democratic  party  stands  before  the  people  asking 
their  suffrages  for  this  candidate,  because  he  represents 
the  spirit  of  reform.  The  candidate  himself,  if  elected, 
must  stake  all  for  personal  renown,  for  gratified  ambi 
tion,  for  honorable  fame  present  or  future,  for  peace  of 
mind  and  repose  of  conscience,  upon  what  he  can  do  to 
restore  our  Government  to  its  ancient  purity,  and  the 
people  to  their  wonted  prosperity  and  happiness.y  With 
a  candidate  so  bound  in  the  adamantine  chains  of  virtue, 
BO  forced  to  strain  every  faculty  and  every  nerve  to  the 
demands  of  patriotism,  it  would  be  the  idlest  folly  for 
the  people  to  allow  a  vague  distrust  of  the  name  of 
Democrat  to  divert  their  suffrages  from  him,  and  tc 
continue  in  power  the  party  that  has  brought  upon  us 


166  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   JONES   TILDEN. 

all  that  we  now  suffer  from  disgrace,  from  imbecility, 
from  corrupt  practices,  and  from  a  wide-spread  financial 
distress. 

Consider  too,  my  dear  sir,  or  rather  ask  your  Repub 
lican  friends,  the  old  Whig  friends  of  my  youth  and 
early  manhood,  the  men  among  whom  I  was  born  and 
reared,  and  whose  habits  of  thought  and  action  I  know 
so  well,  —  ask  them  to  consider  how  is  it  possible  for  the 
Republican  party,  if  continued  in  power,  to  rescue  our 
country  from  its  present  financial  condition.  That  con 
dition  has  for  its  root  and  primary  cause  the  enactment 
of  the  legal-tender  provision,  and  the  creation  of  a 
currency  that  is  utterly  irredeemable  in  any  thing  that 
the  civilized  world  or  the  habits  of  a  commercial  people 
can  receive  as  a  measure  of  values.  It  is  of  no  conse 
quence  now,  what  was  the  real  or  pretended  necessity 
for  the  original  creation  of  this  currency,  this  stupen 
dous  violation  of  all  the  monetary  provisions  of  our 
National  Constitution,  this  huge  departure  from  every 
sound  principle  of  public  finance.  The  evil  once  done, 
it  was  of  course  to  be  undone  as  soon  as  the  pressure 
of  the  real  or  the  pretext  for  the  supposed  cause  for 
doing  it  was  removed.  But  what  has  the  Republican 
party  done  for  its  removal  ?  No  sooner  had  the  force  of 
constitutional  truth  wrung  from  a  reluctant  Chief  Jus 
tice  of  the  United  States  a  casting-vote  which  made  a 
decision  that  pronounced  the  legal-tender  law  unconsti 
tutional,  than  the  whole  force  of  the  Republican  admin 
istration  was  brought  to  bear  to  produce  a  new  majority 


TWO  GREAT  MEN'S   OPINIONS   OF  MB.   TILDEN.  167 

of  the  bench,  and  by  that  new  majority  to  reverse  what 
had  been  once  judicially  determined ;  and  not  only  to 
reverse,  but  to  declare  that  it  is  competent  to  Con 
gress,  at  any  time  when  it  shall  see  fit  to  assert  a 
public  necessity  for  so  doing,  to  create  the  monstrous 
fiction  of  a  legal-tender  paper  currency.  The  pro 
curing  of  this  fatal  decision  is  the  one  great  achieve 
ment  of  the  Republicans  on  the  subject  of  specie  pay 
ments  since  the  close  of  the  war.  Not  a  single  step 
has  been  taken,  not  a  single  measure  has  been  adopted, 
having  the  smallest  tendency  to  bring  about  a  resump 
tion  of  specie  payments.  Having  procured  a  declaration 
by  a  new  majority  of  the  supreme  bench,  that  Congress 
has  the  power  to  make  paper  money  a  legal  tender,  the. 
Republicans  have  rested  content  with  vague  utterances 
of  the  desirableness  of  a  return  to  specie  payments,  and 
with  a  sham  promise  that  it  shall  come  about  in  1879, 
without  any  mortal  man  of  them  having  suggested  how 
that  is  to  be  done  in  1879  which  has  not  been  done  or 
attempted  in  any  year  of  the  past  decade.  The  conse 
quence  of  all  this  imbecility  and  incapability  is,  that 
business  is  utterly  paralyzed.  No  man  knows  what  to 
do,  for  no  man  can  tell  what  the  future  is  to  bring  forth. 
Was  there,  then,  ever  a  clearer  case  for  changing  the 
administration  of  affairs  from  one  party  to  another? 
What  is  wanted  is  a  man  of  sound  financial  views,  and 
a  clear  head,  in  the  office  of  President  of  the  United 
States.  He  may  go  on  until  doomsday,  trusting  to  the 
representatives  of  the  people  in  either  house  of  Congress 


168  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

to  reconcile  the  differences  of  opinion  among  their  con 
stituents,  whose  opinions  they  personally  reflect,  in  the 
hope  that  soft-money  men  will  see  the  error  of  their 
ways,  and  that  hard-money  men  will  find  the  concessions 
which  they  ought  to  make.  It  will  all  come  to  nothing 
until  there  is  a  man  in  the  office  of  President  who,  raised 
above  the  necessity  for  conciliatory  local  opinions,  grasp 
ing  the  whole  of  the  great  problem  with  the  hand  of  i 
master  and  the  brain  of  a  statesman,  aiming  at  nothing 
but  the  welfare  of  the  whole  people,  and  capable  o ; 
understanding  what  that  welfare  requires,  shall  present 
a  plan  of  financial  and  revenue  reform  that  will  so  com  - 
mand  the  assent  and  confidence  of  the  people  that  Con 
gress  will  be  compelled  by  the  fiat  of  the  nation  at  Iarg3 
at  once  to  make  it  law.  Then  confidence  will  return, 
and  business  will  revive.  If  we  fail  to  get  such  a 
President,  we  shall  blunder  on  and  wrangle  on  until  tho 
poor  are  starving,  and  the  rich  have  become  the  poor, 
and  new  sectional  differences  and  collisions  are  added 
to  the  social  disorganization.  I  know  of  no  man  in  the 
nation  to  whom  I  should  more  willingly  intrust  tho 
financial  problem  than  I  should  to  Gov.  Tilden.  He  is 
not  a  rash  man.  He  is  not  only  comprehensive  and 
clear-sighted,  but  he  is  cautious  and  conservative.  Ho 
will  neither  ruin  men  by  a  great  and  sudden  contrac 
tion,  nor  will  he  hazard  their  welfare  by  giving  way  to 
schemes  of  inflation.  If  any  man  can  solve  this  problem 
of  a  safe  and  speedy  return  to  specie  payments,  Gov. 
Tilden  may  be  expected  to  do  it ;  and,  although  the 


TWO   GREAT   MEN'S   OPINIONS   OF  MR.   TILDEN.  169 

necessary  measures  do  not  call  for  the  exercise  of  the 
one-man  power,  it  is  eminently  a  question  that  demands 
for  its  first  treatment  the  exercise  of  the  one-brain 
power. 

In  my  daily  passages  between  the  city  of  New  York 
and  my  country  home,  at  this  season  of  the  year,  I  am 
obliged  to  pass  along  the  East  River,  for  a  distance  of 
about  two  miles,  on  a  ferry-boat.  It  is  absolutely  appall 
ing  to  contrast  the  present  condition  of  our  wharves 
and  docks  with  what  it  was  when  I  began,  fourteen 
years  ago,  to  make  this  passage  before  one  of  the  noblest 
water-fronts  in  the  world.  New  York  had  then  a  com 
merce  which  it  made  one's  heart  swell  to  behold.  Great 
hulls,  whose  enormous  bulk  betokened  what  they  had 
brought  or  were  to  take  away,  lay  tier  on  tier  along  the 
shore.  Forests  of  masts,  smoke-stacks,  derricks,  too 
thick  for  any  unpractised  eye  to  count,  almost  hid  the 
buildings  behind  them  from  sight.  The  incessant  rattle 
of  the  calkers'  hammers  made  a  music  which  any  con 
templative  man  might  for  a  moment  prefer  to  the 
orchestral  harmonies  of  an  opera-house.  Notwithstand 
ing  that  one  feels  like  an  insignificant  atom  in  the 
presence  of  any  great  manifestation  of  collective  human 
power  and  activity,  there  is  always  something  exhila 
rating  in  such  a  scene.  It  is  nearly  all  gone.  The 
traveller  on  these  waters  now  passes  whole  stretches 
of  piers  at  which  no  craft  whatever  is  lying.  In  many 
and  many  a  slip  he  sees  no  objects  bigger  than  the  heads 
of  boys  whom  the  heat  of  the  day  has  driven  into  the 


170  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

tide.  Skirting,  yesterday  afternoon,  by  these  melancholy 
places,  I  stood  on  the  deck  of  the  ferry-boat  with  a 
Republican  friend,  who  in  an  unguarded  moment 
allowed  an  exclamation  to  escape  him,  which  showed 
that  he  felt  the  contrast  as  I  did.  "  And  yet,"  said  I, 
"  you  are  not  willing  to  have  us  Democrats  change  the 
administration  of  the  government,  and  try  what  can  be 
done  to  restore  our  national  commerce  to  its  former 
prosperity."  In  an  instant  all  my  friend's  antagonism 
was  aroused.  "No,"  he  replied:  "I  will  never  consent 
that  the  men  who  made  all  this  desolation  necessary  by 
encouraging,  yes,-  by  making  the  Rebellion,  shall  be 
intrusted  with  the  government."  My  friend  who 
uttered  this  sentiment  is  a  man  of  great  intelligence 
and  purity  of  character ;  but,  knowing  how  fixed  and 
inveterate  are  his  political  views,  I  did  not  continue 
the  conversation.  There  are  those  with  whom  one 
cannot  reason  on  this  subject,  because  they  perpetually 
go  back  from  the  present  to  the  past,  and,  illogically 
putting  the  responsibility  for  the  late  civil  war  where 
it  certainly  does  not  belong,  they  argue  that  those  who 
have  caused  great  public  mischiefs  are  not  the  persons 
to  remedy  them.  But  there  are  others  whom  one  can 
possibly  reach. 

It  is  singular  that  men  of  fair  intelligence  and  com 
mon  candor  should  not  be  able  to  see,  that,  if  a  balance 
of  responsibility  for  the  late  civil  war  were  to  be  struck 
between  the  two  political  parties  of  the  country,  the 
larger  share  of  blame  would  not  fall  to  the  Democrats. 


TWO   GBEAT   MEN'S   OPINIONS   OF  MR.   TILDEN.  171 

But  the  truth  is,  that  with  no  show  of  justice  can  the 
war  be  regarded  as  any  thing  but  a  sectional  collision, 
having  its  origin  in  remote  causes,  the  existence  and 
operation  of  which  it  is  idle  to  impute  to  the  party  action 
of  any  portion  of  the  people,  North  or  South,  as  if  such 
party  action  had  produced  the  attempted  separation  of 
the  States  into  two  nations.  The  war,  however,  like  all 
wars  of  great  magnitude  and  long  continuance,  has  left 
behind  it  a  train  of  enormous  evils.  It  has  exhausted 
the  resources  of  the  country  by  creating  a  national  debt 
that  has  never  yet  been  so  managed  as  not  to  press  with 
a  terrible  weight  upon  the  industries  of  the  people,  and 
by  the  introduction  of  a  currency  which,  as  a  medium 
for  the  measure  and  exchange  of  values,  wastes  every 
man's  labor  faster  than  he  can  accumulate  a  profit  from 
either  his  labor  or  his  capital.  The  removal  of  these 
evils  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Republicans.  They  have 
had  the  full  power  of  legislation  and  government  for 
a  period  of  sixteen  years.  If  they  think  that  they  are 
entitled  to  plume  themselves  on  the  fact  that  they  car 
ried  us  successfully  through  the  war,  what  can  be  said 
of  their  success  in  freeing  us  from  its  deplorable  conse 
quences  ?  If  they  have  demonstrated  any  thing  since 
it  was  ended,  they  have  demonstrated  their  utter  inca 
pacity  to  relieve  the  people  from  those  consequences,  — 
a  fact  that  is  so  glaring  and  undeniable  that  it  shows,  in 
its  turn,  how  little  of  credit  is  due  to  them,  as  a  mere 
party,  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  how  much  its 
successful  termination  was  due  to  the  combined  energies 


172  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

of  the  whole  people  of  the  North,  without  reference  to 
party  divisions.  The  case,  then,  now  really  stands  thus : 
The  Republican  party,  as  a  political  organization,  is 
incapable  of  restoring  the  country  to  a  condition  of 
prosperity ;  and  at  the  same  time  its  leaders  and  politi 
cians  are  unwilling  to  have  the  people  call  upon  the 
Democratic  party  to  undertake  that  duty.  They  expect 
by  appeals  to  the  merest  prejudices  to  induce  the  people 
to  bear  longer  and  indefinitely  "  the  ills  they  have,"  lest 
they  may  "  fly  to  others  that  they  know  not  of."  What 
are  these  other  ills  that  they  know  not  of  ?  All  men 
everywhere,  of  all  political  stripes,  have  accepted  the 
national  supremacy  under  the  Constitution  as  it  has 
been  established  by  the  result  of  the  war.  All  men 
everywhere  have  accepted  as  final  the  new  social  con 
dition  of  the  former  slaveholding  States.  The  Demo 
cratic  part}7,  discarding  all  questions  on  which  there 
can  be  any  differences  of  opinion  among  honest  and 
patriotic  citizens,  ask  nothing  but  to  be  allowed  to  try 
to  reform  the  administration  of  the  Government  which 
the  Republicans  have  debased,  and  to  rebuild  the  pros 
perity  of  the  country  which  the  Republicans  have  laid 
waste.  Yet  the  people  are  to  be  told  that  they  ought 
not  to  permit  this  effort  to  be  made,  because  the  South 
ern  slaveholders,  or  some  of  them  who  attempted  to 
break  up  the  Union,  were  formerly  called  Democrats. 
It  is  very  much  as  if  a  steward  of  the  name  of  Smith 
were  to  say  to  his  master,  "  Sir,  your  affairs  are  in  great 
confusion :  I  am  sorry  I  have  not  been  able  to  straighten 


TWO  GREAT  MEN'S   OPINIONS  OF  MR.   TILDEN.  173 

them  out.  But  I  advise  you  not  to  employ  Mr.  Jones ; 
for  you  remember  that  it  was  a  man  of  the  name  of 
Jones  with  whom  you  had  that  great  lawsuit  about 
one  of  your  farms ;  and  you  know  that  I  beat  him,  and 
saved  the  property  for  you."  —  "  Yes,"  replies  the  un 
happy  owner  of  a  great  property,  mortgaged  with  an 
enormous  debt,  —  "  yes  :  I  know,  Mr.  Smith,  that  you 
were  steward  when  I  had  that  lawsuit ;  but  you  made 
it  cost  two  or  three  times  what  it  should  have  cost,  by 
your  ruinous  method  of  procuring  the  money.  You 
have  since  so  squandered  and  mismanaged  my  revenues 
that  I  cannot  pay  my  honest  debts.  You  may  go.  I 
shall  try  what  Mr.  Jones  can  do  for  me.  There  is 
nothing  but  his  name  in  common  between  him  and  my 
old  adversary  in  the  lawsuit." 

I  am  free  to  say,  without  metaphor  or  circumlocution, 
that  if  the  Republican  party  had  any  thing  to  rely 
upon  but  its  boast  that  "  its  deeds  have  passed  into 
history ; "  if,  in  other  words,  it  had  manifested  any 
power  to  relieve  the  distresses  of  the  people  ;  if  it  could 
point  to  any  one  practical  measure  as  an  earnest  that  it 
had  found  and  can  be  trusted  to  apply  the  remedy, 
then  I  should  say,  "  In  heaven's  name,  let  it  continue 
to  govern  the  country !  "  But  it  is  to  be  presumed  that 
it  has  put  forth  its  strongest  claims  in  what  is  called 
its  "  platform  ; "  and  I  look  through  that  document  in 
vain  for  a  single  recital  of  any  such  ground  of  confi 
dence.  I  find  nothing  on  the  subject  of  our  greatest 
difficulty,  in  this  hour  of  supreme  anxiety  and  distress^ 
but  this  vague  and  indefinite  resolution  :  — 


174  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

"  Fourth,  In  the  first  act  of  Congress  signed  by  Pres. 
Grant,  the  National  Government  assumed  to  remove 
any  doubts  of  its  purpose  to  discharge  all  just  obliga 
tions  to  public  creditors,  and  solemnly  pledged  its  faith 
to  make  provision,  at  the  earliest  practicable  period,  for 
the  redemption  of  the  United  States  notes  in  coin. 
Commercial  prosperity,  public  interests,  and  national 
credit  demand  that  this  promise  be  fulfilled  by  a  con 
tinuous  and  steady  progress  to  specie  payment." 

A  period  of  nearly  eight  years  has  elapsed  since  this 
uncertain  promise  was  put  forth.  What  one  thing  has 
been  done  which  shows  that  "  a  continuous  and  steady 
progress  to  specie  payment "  has  even  been  begun  ?  It 
seems  as  if  the  wisest  heads  of  the  party  had  been 
employed  in  framing  a  palpable  condemnation  of  their 
own  inefficiency.  They  assert  a  promise  to  do  some 
thing,  and  a  public  duty  to  do  it ;  but  in  no  single  line 
of  the  whole  document  do  they  undertake  to  show  that 
they  have  made  any  "  provision  "  to  fulfil  the  promise, 
to  discharge  the  duty,  or  that  they  know  or  have 
conceived  of  any  means  of  meeting  what  they  say  the 
public  interest  demands.  Yet  upon  them  has  been  the 
burthen,  upon  them  has  been  the  responsibility,  in  their 
hands  has  been  the  power,  year  after  year,  through  the 
long  and  dreary  period  in  which  we  have  waited  and 
waited  for  their  action ;  and  now  that  they  have  noth 
ing  to  show,  and  the  time  has  come  for  the  people  to 
determine  whether  they  will  grant  to  this  party  a  new 
lease  of  power,  the  people  are  to  be  cajoled  with  a 


TWO  GREAT   MEN'S   OPINIONS   OF  MR.   TILDEN.  175 

"  continuous  and  steady  progress  "  in  that  which  has 
had  no  beginning,  which  in  the  nature  of  things  can 
have  no  continuity,  of  which  neither  steadiness  nor 
unsteadiness  can  be  predicated,  and  which,  in  the  place 
of  progress,  gives  us  blank  vacuity  and  nothingness. 
The  promises  of  the  Republicans  to  restore  specie  pay 
ment  are  like  the  promises  of  the  currency  itself.  You 
present  a  greenback  for  payment,  and  you  get  another 
promise  to  pay.  You  ask  for  a  fulfilment  of  pledges, 
and  you  get  another  pledge.  Where  and  how  is  this 
to  end  ?  I  see  no  end  that  is  possible,  but  to  put  the 
power  and  responsibility  of  legislation  and  government 
into  other  hands.  Whether .  the  people  will  see  it  in 
the  same  light,  we  shall  know  when  they  have  acted. 
In  the  mean  time,  we  who  advocate  the  change  have  a 
very  plain  duty  to  perform. 

With  great  regard,  and  many  congratulations  on  the 
results  at  St.  Louis,  I  remain  yours  sincerely, 

GEO.  TICKNOR  CURTIS. 

FREDERICK  0.  PRINCE,  ESQ.,  Boston,  Mass. 

The  following  quotations  from  a  letter  written  by  one 
who  was  a  prominent  member  of  that  singular  body  of 
reformers  that  met  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  in  May 
last,  speak  for  themselves.  It  is,  as  will  be  seen,  from 
the  able  pen  of  Parke  Godwin,  who  was. also  one  of 
the  executive  committee  of  that  convention.  I  omit 
what  he  says  of  Gov.  Hayes,  —  as  I  am  not  writing 
the  life  of  that  gentleman,  —  and  take  what  he  states  of 
Gov.  Tilden :  — 


176  LIFE  OP  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN". 

Who,  then,  is  Samuel  J.  Tilden  ? 

In  reply,  good  friends  of  the  conference,  let  me 
speak  to  you  from  my  personal  knowledge.  I  have 
been  intimately  acquainted  with  Mr.  Tilden  for  nearly 
forty  years  ;  and  though  I  have  often  differed  with  him 
politically,  sometimes  even  lamenting  his  strong  reli 
ance  on  party  agencies,  I  have  never  had  the  slightest 
occasion  to  suspect  his  absolute  integrity  of  purpose 
and  sincerity  of  conviction.  In  all  the  relations  of 
private  life,  he  is  purity  itself.  At  the  same  time  he 
has  always  been  a  public-spirited  citizen,  taking  an 
active  part  in  whatever  concerned  the  welfare  and 
progress  of  the  community  in  which  he  lived.  His 
devotion,  indeed,  to  public  affairs,  began  while  he 
was  still  a  youth ;  and  his  early  discussions  of  intricate 
questions  of  finance  attracted  the  attention  of  maturer 
minds  by  their  singular  penetration  and  judgment. 
Professionally,  he  has  taken  rank  with  Van  Buren, 
Brady,  O'Conor,  Graham,  Evarts,  Kirkland,  and  other 
foremost  lawyers;  and  in  a  peculiar  class  of  cases, — 
heavy  and  complicated  railroad  litigations,  —  he  is  ad 
mitted  to  be  facile  princeps.  His  counsel,  when  impor 
tant  and  decisive  action  was  involved,  has  been  deemed 
invaluable.  In  still  higher  relations  Mr.  Tilden  seems 
to  me  to  combine  more  than  any  man  now  before  the 
public,  hardly  excepting  Mr.  Adams  of  Massachusetts, 
the  two  great  kinds  of  quality,  theoretic  and  practical, 
which  form  the  true  statesman,  —  a  profound  under 
standing  of  the  philosophic  grounds  of  political  opin- 


TWO  GREAT  MEN'S   OPINIONS   OF  ME.   TILDEN.  177 

ion,  and  the  sagacious  tact  and  energy  of  the  man  of 
business. 

This  union  of  theoretic  insight  with  practical  capacity 
has  been  singularly  shown  in  his  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  this  State.  New  York  is  the  largest  Com 
monwealth  of  the  Union,  —  the  largest  in  population, 
in  agricultural  products,  in  manufacturing  enterprise, 
in  commercial  capital ;  in  a  word,  in  the  diversity  and 
importance  of  its  business  relations.  And  the  governor 
ship  there  is  not  a  mere  clerical  function,  confined  to 
the  appointment  of  notaries  and  the  signing  of  com 
missions,  as  in  many  of  the  newer  Western  States,  but 
an  onerous,  intricate,  and  responsible  trust.  The  gov 
ernor  is  invested  with  the  veto,  which  makes  him  a 
part  of  the  legislative  power ;  while  his  executive  con 
nection  with  the  complicated  business  of  the  quaran 
tine,  the  salt-works,  the  State  prisons  and  charities, 
and  an  immense  system  of  canals,  imposes  upon  him 
the  most  varied  and  difficult  duties.  Mr.  Tilden,  in 
his  short  tenure  of  the  place,  has  evinced  a  masterly 
fitness  for  all  its  duties.  He  has  defeated  a  multitude 
of  ill-considered  and  improper  bills,  rectified  many 
minor  errors  of  administration,  overthrown  a  fraudu 
lent  and  gigantic  conspiracy,  and  reduced  the  taxation 
from  over  $15,000,000  in  1875  to  less  than  $8,000,000 
in  1876,  with  an  assurance  that,  if  the  changes  he  has 
suggested  are  followed,  the  decrease  will  be  two  or 
three  millions  more  in  1877.  A  part  of  this  reduction 
is  due  to  the  extinction  of  the  bounty  debt,  but  the 


178  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  JONES  TILDEN. 

rest  to  Gov.  Tilden's  direct  efforts  and  influence.  I 
have  said  that  Mr.  Tilden  was  more  of  a  partisan  than 
suited  my  own  temperament;  but  I  ought  in  justice  to 
add  that  he  was  never  so  much  of  a  partisan  as  to 
render  him  insensible  to  the  higher  duties  of  the  citizen. 
He  separated  from  the  bulk  of  his  own  party  in  this 
city,  with  other  Free-Soilers  of  this  State,  when  we 
thought  it  advisable  to  protest  against  certain  encroach 
ments  of  slave  power.  He  separated  from  the  bulk  of 
his  party  in  this  city  when  he  undertook  to  beat  down 
the  infamous  Tweed  gang,  intrenched  by  the  laws,  and 
possessed  of  an  almost  overwhelming  force.  It  was 
against  the  advice  of  many  of  the  most  eminent  men 
of  his  own  party,  that  he  assailed  the  Canal  Ring, 
whose  ramifications  extended  through  nearly  every 
county  in  the  State,  and  whose  wealth  and  influence 
were  supposed  to  be  invincible.  And  it  was  against  a 
large  and  well-combined  faction  of  his  own  party,  that 
he  lifted  it  at  St.  Louis  out  of  the  quagmires  of  doubt 
and  error  in  which  it  was  floundering,  and  placed  it  on 
the  high  ground  of  its  ancient  traditions.  Mr.  Tilden 
is  cautious  and  wary,  and  never  acts  until  assured  of 
foothold  on  truth  and  right ;  but  then  he  is  as  tena 
cious  in  pursuit  as  a  sleuth-hound,  and  absolutely 
inflexible. 

CONCLUSION. 

And  now,  appealing  to  every  impartial  member  of 
the  conference  to  dismiss  his  ancient  party  animosities 
and  prejudices,  I  ask  him  to  consider  the  words  of  our 


TWO   GREAT   MEN'S   OPINIONS   OF  MR.   TILDEN.  179 

address  describing  the  political  situation,  as  quoted  and 
often  published ;  I  ask  him  to  consider  the  demands 
it  made  of  the  conventions,  and  the  character  of  can 
didate  it  presented  as  a  sine  qua  non,  —  and  then  say 
which  of  the  parties  has  most  nearly  met  the  require 
ments.  The  Republican  party,  which  is  responsible 
for  the  greater  part  of  the  widespread  demoralization, 
is  substantially  unchanged.  It  will  be  for  the  next 
four  years  what  it  has  been  for  the  past  eleven  years. 
A  candidate  chosen  expressly  for  his  neutral  qualities 
will  not  direct  its  tendencies,  or  infuse  vigor  or  con 
sistency  into  its  councils.  Its  leadership  will  continue 
to  be,  as  heretofore,  in  the  hands  of  its  Blaines,  its 
Conklings,  its  Mortons,  its  Camerons,  its  Logans,  and 
its  Kelleys.  On  the  contrary,  the  Democratic  party, 
abjuring  its  former  errors,  and  rising  to  the  full  de 
mands  of  the  situation,  puts  itself  into  essentially  new 
hands.  Its  standard-bearer,  a  sagacious,  prudent,  most 
accomplished  statesman,  inured  to  management,  and 
fresh  from  desperate  conflicts  with  the  enemies  of  pure 
government,  has  lifted  it  to  a  higher  plane  of  faith, 
and  will  also  lift  it  to  a  higher  plane  of  practice.  But 
he  must  be  sustained  by  good  men  everywhere  who 
sympathize  in  his  objects.  He  has  brought  us  the  re- 
enforcement  of  a  mighty  organization  ready  to  adopt 
our  cause,  and  to  fight  our  battle  :  can  we  turn  it 
away  ?  Can  we,  sinking  back  into  the  blindness  of 
mere  partisan  feeling,  neglect  this  glorious  opportunity, 
which  puts  an  overwhelming  vote  at  our  disposal,  for 


180  LIFE  OF   SAMUEL  JONES   TILDEN. 

the  rescue  of  the  Government  ?  I  do  not  well  see  how 
there  can  be  two  answers  ;  but,  be  that  as  it  may,  I 
who  have  for  many  years  stood  by  this  noble  man,  and 
been  the  eye-witness  of  his  gallant  fights  with  "the 
beasts  at  Ephesus,"  would  be  recreant  to  the  labor  and 
aspirations  of  my  whole  life,  not  to  lend  him  my 

heartiest  support. 

PAEKE  GODWIN. 

EOSLYN,  L.I.,  July  18, 1876. 


7  ,y/v  XX  v  v 


SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


OP 


THOMAS  ANDREWS  HENDRICKS. 


THOMAS  ANDEEWS  HENDRICKS, 


CHAPTER  XL 

SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES    OF 
THOMAS  ANDREWS   HENDRICKS. 

Birthplace  of  Gov.  Hendricks.  —  Education.  —  Graduates  at  Hanover 
College.  — Studies  Law  in  Pennsylvania.  —  Settles  in  Indianapolis. 
—  Is  chosen  to  the  State  Legislature.  —  Also  to  the  State  Conven 
tion.  —  Is  elected  a  Member  of  Congress.  —  Also  Senator.  —  Re 
turns  to  the  Practice  of  Law.  —  Is  chosen  Governor.  —  His  Views 
on  the  Finances.  — A  Hard  Money  Man.  — Description  of  His  Per 
son.  —  He  is  Married,  but  has  no  Children. 

IT  is  well  known  that  Mr.  Hendricks  is  now  Gov 
ernor  of  the  State  of  Indiana.  He  was  born  in  Mus- 
kingum  County,  O.,  Sept.  7,  1819 :  consequently  he  is 
nearly  fifty-seven  years  old.  His  father  removed  to 
Shelby  County,  Ind.,  when  the  present  Governor  was 
but  three  years  old.  Though  he  was  born  in  a  neigh 
boring  State,  this  fact  has  not  affected  his  popularity  in 
Indiana ;  for,  indeed,  many  of  the  citizens  of  this  State 
originated  in  Ohio,  and  Mr.  Hendricks,  having  spent 
his  childhood  and  youth  in  the  younger  Commonwealth, 

163 


184  THOMAS   ANDREWS   HENDBICKS. 

has  been  identified  with  all  its  interests,  whether  pros* 
perous  or  adverse. 

The  following  account  of  the  services  of  Gov.  Hen- 
dricks  is  from  the  pen  of  one  who  has  known  him  well, 
and  seems  so  far  correct  that  it  has  passed  under  the 
inspection  of  his  Excellency  with  approval :  — 

No  man  in  the  State  is  now  more  generally  loved, 
and  certainly  no  one  is  less  hated.  His  youth  was  not 
a  season  of  hardship ;  and  he  received  a  liberal  educa 
tion,  graduating  at  Hanover  College  in  1841.  He  then 
studied  law  at  Chambersburg,  Penn.,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  Bar  at  that  place  in  1843.  He  returned  to 
Indiana  immediately  after,  and  entered  upon  the  prac 
tice  of  his  profession.  His  success  was  rapid  and  well 
earned.  There  was  a  charm  about  him  that  won  him 
hosts  of  friends.  He  was  pure  in  morals,  and  not 
merely  upright  in  character,  but  solicitous  to  preserve 
himself  from  even  the  appearance  of  evil.  He  was 
careful  in  money  matters,  and  slowly  accumulated  his 
present  moderate  fortune,  although  his  practice  was 
often  interrupted  by  political  service,  and  his  expenses 
increased  to  meet  the  social  requirements  of  official 
station.  At  the  bar  he  was  distinguished  for  learning, 
subtlety,  and  eloquence.  His  temperament  is  such  that 
at  times  he  flings  aside  his  habitual  courtesy  and  cau 
tion,  and  gives  free  rein  to  his  aggressive  impulses. 
He  was  ever  on  such  occasions  a  dangerous  opponent. 
In  comparing  him  as  a  lawyer  with  his  rival  Morton, 
it  is  common  to  say  that  Hendricks  was  apt  to  be 


SKETCH  OF  HIS   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES.    185 

worsted  before  a  jury,  and  his  rival  had  no  chance 
before  a  judge. 

In  1848  Mr.  Hendricks  was  chosen  a  member  of  the 
State  Legislature ;  and  in  1850  he  served  in  the  State 
Constitutional  Convention.  During  the  next  five  years, 
he  represented  the  Indianapolis  district  in  Congress, 
and  for  four  years  afterwards  was  Commissioner  of  the 
General  Land  Office.  In  the  memorable  campaign  of 
1860,  he  ran  for  Governor  against  Henry  S.  Lane,  and 
was  defeated.  Lane  was  chosen  United  States  Senator 
immediately  after  his  inauguration,  and  Oliver  P.  Mor 
ton  succeeded  to  the  governorship.  In  the  election  of 
1862,  there  was  a  political  revulsion,  and  Indiana  elected 
a  Democratic  legislature.  Mr.  Hendricks  was  then 
chosen  Senator  for  the  term  ending  in  March,  1869. 
This  was  a  period  during  which  the  Democratic  party 
in  the  Senate  was  represented  by  a  weak  minority. 
Nothing  was  possible  save  an  able  protest  against  the 
various  reconstruction  measures  adopted  ;  and  this  was 
to  be  made  in  the  face  of  strong  popular  prejudice 
throughout  the  country,  as  well  as  strong  opposition  in 
the  Senate-Chamber.  Mr.  Hendricks  at  once  took  the 
lead  among  the  Democrats,  and  made  for  himself  a 
national  reputation.  It  is  a  common  criticism  upon 
him,  that  he  is  timid  and  cautious  :  let  those  who  think 
so  read  the  debates  during  his  term  of  office,  and  they 
will  be  astonished  to  find  the  Indiana  Senator  ever 
active  and  aggressive. 

It  is  a  sufficient  proof  of  the  ability  and  success  of 


186  THOMAS   ANDREWS   HENDRICKS. 

Mr.  Hendricks  in  the  Senate,  that  towards  the  close  of 
a  single  term  he  had  placed  himself  among  the  fore 
most  men  of  his  party,  and  become  a  prominent  candi 
date  for  the  Presidency.  In  the  Convention  of  1868,  he 
was  brought  forward,  and  one  time  led  all  other  candi 
dates,  receiving  the  solid  vote  of  New  York  and  the 
North-west.  Ohio,  however,  which  had  been  compelled 
to  abandon  its  own  candidate,  was  determined  to  defeat 
all  other  Western  men;  and  the  delegates  from  that 
State  threw  their  vote  for  Horatio  Seymour  persist 
ently,  and  finally  produced  a  stampede  of  the  whole 
Convention  to  his  support. 

In  Indiana  that  year,  he  ran  for  governor  a  second 
time,  and  was  a  second  time  defeated.  His  opponent 
was  Gov.  Conrad  Baker ;  and  so  close  was  the  contest, 
that  Mr.  Hendricks  only  fell  nine  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  votes  behind. 

After  his  retirement  from  the  Senate  in  1869,  Mr. 
Hendricks  returned  to  the  practice  of  his  profession  at 
Indianapolis ;  and,  although  he  had  not  been  successful 
in  his  candidacy  before  the  National  Convention,  he 
was  at  least  well  before  the  country,  as  a  man  to  be 
considered  on  all  occasions  when  a  Presidential  nomi 
nation  was  to  be  made.  He  himself  never  lost  the 
consciousness  that  the  eye  of  the  public  was  on  him, 
and  always  acted  with  circumspection,  as  if  anticipating 
the  blaze  of  a  national  canvass,  and  desirous  of  keeping 
his  record  clear.  The  unfortunate  nomination  of  Gree- 
ley  in  1872,  and  the  fusion  with  the  so-called  Liberal 


SKETCH   OF  HIS   LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES.   187 

Republicans,  postponed  the  day  of  ambition ;  and  Mr. 
Hendricks,  acquiescing  in  what  appeared  to  be  the 
popular  will,  gave  in  his  hearty  approval  to  the  new 
departure.  He  was  not  allowed  to  remain  idle  during 
the  canvass.  Against  his  earnest  protest  he  was  again 
nominated  for  the  Governorship.  The  campaign  was 
a  bitter  one,  and  almost  disastrous  to  the  Democracy 
throughout  the  country.  The  result  in  Indiana  was 
bad,  but  far  better  than  in  most  other  localities.  The 
Republicans  carried  the  legislature,  and  elected  all  of 
their  State  ticket  except  the  Governor  and  the  super 
intendent  of  public  instruction.  The  majorities  were 
very  small,  but  they  were  enough.  The  personal  popu 
larity  of  Gov.  Hendricks  carried  him  through.  As  a 
man,  courteous  in  social  intercourse,  an  influential 
member  of  an  influential  church,  clean  and  respectable 
in  all  his  walks  and  ways,  he  was  fortunate  to  have  for 
his  opponent  Gen.  Tom  Browne,  a  man  who  had  served 
creditably  in  the  war,  but  who  had  brought  into  civil 
life  the  recklessness  and  dissipation  which  are  forgiven 
to  the  soldier,  but  make  the  statesman  distrusted.  It 
was  to  Browne's  further  disadvantage,  that  the  temper 
ance  sentiment  was  at  that  time,  as  it  has  since  been, 
very  strong  in  Indiana ;  and  the  first  stirring  of  that 
spirit  which  afterwards  broke  out  in  the  temperance 
crusade  was  then  felt.  As  the  fanatics  on  this  subject 
are  mostly  Republicans,  it  was  a  severe  trial  to  their 
allegiance  to  be  compelled  to  vote  for  a  man  whom, 
had  he  been  a  Democrat,  they  would  have  described  as 


188  THOMAS   ANDREWS   HENDRICKS. 

a  drunkard.  Browne  hardly  mended  the  matter  by 
saying,  in  his  speech  before  the  Convention  which 
nominated  him,  that,  if  by  eating  meat  he  had  hitherto 
offended  his  brother,  he  would  eat  meat  no  more. 
"Eating  meat"  became  a  cruel  piece  of  campaign 
slang.  With  these  circumstances  in  his  favor,  Gov. 
Hendricks  won  by  a  majority  of  1,148.  In  general 
terms,  it  may  be  said  of  his  Administration,  that  it  has 
been  able,  conscientious,  high-minded.  He  has  aimed 
fairly  to  do  his  duty,  and  his  official  conduct  cannot  be 
criticised. 

The  whole  legislative  session  of  1875  was  a  struggle 
between  the  House  and  the  Senate  for  partisan  advan 
tage  ;  and  the  decisive  stroke  by  which  the  Governor, 
who  had  watched  the  contest  impartially,  stepped  in,  in 
behalf  of  the  public  good,  and  put  an  end  to  the  strife, 
was  admirable.  The  session  was  limited  by  law ;  and 
the  Republican  Senate,  adopting  the  tactics  which  the 
Senate  at  Washington  is  now  pursuing,  refused  con 
currence  in  the  measures  adopted  by  the  House,  and, 
although  conference  Committees  had  agreed  upon  all 
vital  questions,  delayed  action  until  after  midnight  on 
the  last  day,  hoping  in  this  way  to  block  the  business 
of  the  State,  or  force  the  Democrats  into  a  long  and 
expensive  extra  session,  which  would  condemn  the 
party  in  a  Granger  community.  The  session  closed  on 
Saturday  night ;  and  the  Governor  issued  his  Procla 
mation  on  Monday,  re-assembling  the  Legislature  on 
Tuesday,  without  giving  the  members  a  chance  to 


SKETCH  OF  HIS   LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES.   189 

scatter,  and  politely  suggesting,  that,  although  they 
had  a  right  to  stay  forty  days,  it  would  be  much 
healthier  for  them  to  do  their  work  and  go  home 
before  the  close  of  the  week.  They  gathered  together 
like  little  lambs.  The  whole  scheme  of  making  party 
capital,  one  way  or  the  other,  was  abandoned.  They 
took  up  their  work  where  they  had  laid  it  down, 
finished  it,  and  were  gone  by  Saturday,  much  to  the 
gratification  of  all  good  citizens. 

Since  the  action  of  the  Cincinnati  Convention  refus 
ing  to  indorse  the  resumption  act,  the  financial  issue 
will  not  be  likely  to  play  an  important  part  in  the 
campaign;  but  it  may  be  well  to  give  some  facts  in 
regard  to  Gov.  Hendricks's  course  during  the  great 
currency  agitation  of  the  last  two  years.  At  the  begin 
ning  of  the  clamor  for  more  money,  in  the  Fall  of  1873, 
he  was  not  in  any  way  called  upon  to  express  his 
opinions  on  financial  questions ;  and,  although  his  con 
victions  on  those  topics  were  based  on  sound  old  Demo 
cratic  principles,  it  was  his  nature  to  sympathize  with 
the  distress  which  he  saw  about  him  in  every  direction, 
rather  than  set  out  to  preach  to  the  people  the  narrow 
and  difficult  path  to  salvation  through  self-denial  and 
suffering.  The  strength  of  the  popular  conviction,  that 
relief  was  possible  through  inflation,  could  hardly  be 
over-estimated.  Some  believed  firmly  that  unlimited 
quantities  of  paper  money,  issued  on  the  faith  of  the 
Government,  was  the  true  American  theory  of  finance. 
Others  knew  that  such  an  issue  of  irredeemable  paper 


190        THOMAS  ANDREWS  HENDKICKS. 

would  only  afford  temporary  relief,  to  be  followed  by 
greater  disaster  ;  but  they  hoped  to  be  safe  before  the 
next  storm,  if  they  should  weather  that  which  was  on 
them.  All  advocated  the  inflation  of  the  currency  with 
a  fierceness  which  brooked  no  resistance ;  and  the  old- 
fashioned  leaders,  who  might  have  thrown  themselves 
across  the  course  of  popular  opinion,  had  they  imagined 
what  way  it  was  tending,  found  the  tide  grow  too  strong 
and  furious  to  withstand  ;  and  most  of  them  went  with 
it.  Whoever  was  recognized  as  a  hard-money  man 
was  considered  in  some  sort  as  a  traitor  to  the  West, 
and  a  public  enemy.  The  feeling  on  this  point  has 
been  modified  to  a  great  extent  during  the  past  year ; 
and  the  objective  point  of  the  paper-money  men  has 
changed.  The  purpose  now  avowed  is  not  an  increase 
of  the  currency  so  much  as  the  maintenance  of  the 
present  standard,  and  the  substitution  of  greenbacks  for 
national  bank-notes.  The  movement  has  ceased  to 
be  wholly  aggressive.  Under  the  circumstances,  the 
course  of  Gov.  Hendricks,  when  it  became  his  duty  to 
take  an  active  part  in  the  discussion  of  the  issues  of 
the  day  in  the  canvass  of  1874,  was  wise  and  manly. 
To  be  sure,  he  did  not  advocate  the  sound  theories  of 
finance  with  the  vigor  of  Kerr,  or  proclaim  his  convic 
tions  with  the  good-tempered  firmness  of  McDonald ; 
but  he  maintained  his  opinions  none  the  less  effectively 
because  he  adopted  a  conciliatory  tone.  He  presided 
over  the  Democratic  Convention  held  in  July  at  Indian 
apolis,  as  we  have  already  said ;  and,  in  his  address  on 


SKETCH  OF   HIS  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES.    191 

taking  the  chair,  argued  that  gold  and  silver  were  the 
true  basis  of  our  currency,  and  that  the  proper  method 
of  returning  to  specie  payments  was  through  the  grow- 
ing-up  process,  —  the  development  of  the  resources  of 
the  South,  the  increase  of  production,  and  the  retrench 
ment  of  public  and  private  expenditures.  The  platform 
adopted  by  the  Convention  was  an  essentially  unsound 
one,  so  far  as  the  financial  planks  are  concerned ;  and  in 
the  subsequent  canvass  Mr.  Hendricks  took  occasion  to 
define  distinctly  the  points  of  difference  between  its 
doctrines  and  his  own  opinions.  How  many  of  the 
politicians  who  have  been  so  glib  in  censuring  him 
would  have  done  as  much?  It  is  common,  among 
Republicans  in  the  East,  to  pretend  that  in  this  canvass 
the  currency  issue  was  drawn  between  the  two  parties. 
The  fact  is,  both  were  strongly  for  inflation  ;  and  the 
victory  of  the  Democrats  was  won  on  the  general  record 
of  the  Administration,  of  which  the  panic  of  1874  had 
broken  the  prestige.  In  illustration  of  Mr.  Hendricks's 
teachings  at  this  time,  we  give  an  extract  from  his 
address  to  the  Democratic  Convention.  After  arguing 
against  the  hasty  contraction  of  our  paper  circulation, 
checking  labor  and  paralyzing  enterprise  on  the  one 
hand,  and  against  undue  inflation,  which  would  lead  to 
depreciation  and  a  reckless  spirit  of  speculation  and 
adventure  on  the  other,  he  said  :  — 

"  We  desire  a  return  to  specie  payments.  It  is  a  seri 
ous  evil,  when  there  are  commercial  mediums  of  differ 
ent  values,  —  when  one  description  of  money  is  for  one 


192  THOMAS   ANDREWS   HENDKICKS. 

class  and  purpose,  and  another  for  a  different  class  and 
purpose.  We  cannot  too  strongly  express  the  impor 
tance  of  the  policy  that  shall  restore  uniformity  of  value 
to  all  the  money  of  the  country,  so  that  it  shall  be  al 
ways  and  readily  convertible.  That  gold  and  silver  are 
the  real  standard  of  value,  is  a  cherished  Democratic 
sentiment,  not  now  nor  hereafter  to  be  abandoned.  But 
I  do  not  look  to  any  arbitrary  enactment  of  Congress  for 
a  restoration  of  specie  payments.  Such  an  effort  now 
would  probably  produce  widespread  commercial  dis 
aster.  A  Congressional  declaration  cannot  make  the 
paper  currency  equal  to  gold  in  value.  It  cannot  make 
a  bank-note  equal  to  your  dollar.  The  business  of  the 
country  alone  can  do  that.  When  we  find  the  coin  of 
the  country  increasing,  then  we  may  know  that  we  are 
moving  in  the  direction  of  specie  payments.  The  im 
portant  financial  question  is,  How  can  we  increase  and 
make  permanent  our  supply  of  gold?  The  reliable  solu 
tion  is  by  increasing  our  productions,  and  thereby  redu 
cing  our  purchases  and  increasing  our  sales  abroad.  He 
can  readily  obtain  money  who  produces  more  than  he 
consumes  of  articles  that  are  wanted  in  the  market;  and 
I  suppose  that  is  also  true  of  communities  and  nations. 
How  can  the  Republican  party  atone  to  the  people  for 
its  evil  policies,  which  have  driven  gold  from  the  coun 
try,  and  rendered  a  return  to  specie  payments  more 
difficult,  and  made  its  postponement  inevitable  ?  " 

In  reality  Gov.  Hendricks  is  probably  a  more  genu 
ine    hard-money   man   than   Gov.   Hayes,   and   would 


SKETCH   OF   HIS   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES.    193 

perhaps  differ  from  him  on  financial  policy  only  in  his 
opposition  to  national  banks,  and  his  willingness  to  sub 
stitute  Government  notes  for  bank  circulation. 

On  questions  of  State  policy  Mr.  Hendricks  has 
shown  masterly  knowledge ;  but  there  is  one  matter 
upon  which  he  has  been  especially  solicitous,  namely, 
the  "School  question  of  Indiana.  As  a  member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention,  he  was  active  in  securing 
ample  provision  for  popular  education,  and  placing  its 
support  beyond  the  vicissitudes  of  politics.  Impressed 
with  the  value  of  the  work  then  accomplished,  he  has 
since  repeatedly  insisted  upon  the  most  anxious  watch 
fulness  over  the  growth  and  perfection  of  the  system, 
and  relaxed  in  its  favor  his  Democratic  prejudices 
toward  strict  construction  and  economy. 

Gov.  Hendricks  is  a  man  of  medium  height  and 
symmetrical  form.  He  is  erect,  active,  and  vigorous. 
His  face  is  manly  and  handsome.  The  features  are 
large  and  expressive ;  and  while  there  is  a  soft,  good- 
humored  expression  in  the  large  blue  eye  and  in  the 
mouth  and  dimpled  chin,  the  brow,  forehead,  and  full, 
heavy  jaw,  show  wisdom  and  resolution.  His  com 
plexion  is  florid ;  and  his  hair  and  side-whiskers  are 
yet  untouched  with  gray.  He  looks  like  one  who  has 
lived  a  happy  life,  encountered  no  great  sorrow,  and 
yielded  to  no  great  vices.  Though  he  has  for  years 
been  taught  to  regard  the  Presidency  as  within  his 
grasp,  his  ambition  has  been  rather  a  sort  of  rational 
longing  for  the  honor,  than  an  insatiable  thirst  for 


194  THOMAS   ANDREWS   HENDKICKS. 

power.  His  disposition  is  as  sunny  as  his  complexion  ; 
and  in  social  life  he  is  a  great  favorite.  To  acquaint 
ances  he  is  affable  and  easy,  to  close  friends  warm 
and  lovable,  to  political  partisans  courteous  but  cau 
tious.  He  would  rather  conciliate  an  enemy,  than 
oblige  an  ally.  His  habits  are  such  that  he  found  five 
thousand  dollars  a  year  ample  for  his  expenditures 
during  his  senatorial  term  at  Washington.  He  has 
always  trusted  to  doing  the  work  which  he  had  IE 
hand  well,  as  in  the  highest  recommendation,  in  the 
long-run,  before  the  people ;  and  the  m&ny  honors 
which  have  come  to  him  seem  to  have  been  conquered 
without  great  effort.  His  voice  is  a  rather  thin  tenor, 
and  has  nothing  imposing  in  its  tones,  but  is  audiblo 
to  great  distance  when  he  speaks  with  earnestness. 
He  appears  to  the  best  advantage  before  a  crowd,  for 
then  he  kindles  with  the  excitement  of  the  occasion ; 
and  an  interruption  or  a  jest  from  some  dissenting 
auditor  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  make  him  forget  his 
habitual  deliberative  cast  of  thought,  and  fling  himself 
into  dashing  and  aggressive  argument.  One  of  the 
features  of  his  career  has  been  the  long  rivalry  between 
him  and  Morton,  —  a  rivalry  in  which  the  bitterness 
was  all  on  one  side.  In  all  combinations  in  his  behalf, 
his  friends  have  taken  the  possibility  of  the  continuance 
of  that  rivalry  for  the  highest  prize  in  the  nation  into 
account.  Now  that  Morton  is  out  of  the  field,  they 
can  probably  promise,  without  a  mental  reservation, 
to  carry  Indiana  for  their  favorite. 


SKETCH  OF  HIS   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES.    195 

Mr.  Hendricks  is  an  Episcopalian  in  religion.  His 
wife  is  a  woman  of  great  culture,  and  force  of  character, 
—  one  formed  to  be  a  man's  comrade  in  the  path  of 
honor,  rather  than  a  source  of  temptation.  They  have 
no  children. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

SPEECH  OF  HON.    THOMAS    A.   HENDRICKS,  AT  ZANES- 
VILLE,   O.,   SEPT.   3,   1875. 

Reference  to  Gov.  Allen.  —  Gov.  Hendricks  on  the  Republican  Fi 
nancial  Policy.  —  Specie  Payments.  —  Republican  Obstructions  to 
Resumption  of  Specie  Payments. — Extravagant  Expenditures. — 
Vices  in  the  Public  Service.  —  District  of  Columbia.  —  Change  the 
only  Remedy. 

As  I  gave  Gov.  Tilden's  life,  first  by  the  historian, 
and  then  let  him  speak  for  himself,  so  I  have  given  a 
sketch  of  Gov.  Hendricks  in  the  last  chapter,  from 
another :  I  now  allow  him  to  speak  for  himself.  It  has 
been  said  of  some  of  the  papers  that  have  published  a 
single  sentence  of  his  financial  creed,  "  They  dare  not 
publish  one  of  his  Speeches  entire : "  I  here  give  the 
whole  of  one  of  his  Addresses,  verbatim  et  literatim :  — 

FELLOW-CITIZENS,  —  I  think  the  re-election  of  Gov. 
Allen  very  important ;  and  therefore,  upon  the  invita 
tion  of  your  State  Executive  Committee,  I  stand  before 
you  to-day.  I  understand  that  it  is  quite  customary 
to  confer  upon  your  governors,  whose  administrations 
are  acceptable  to  the  people,  the  honor  of  a  re-election, 

196 


SPEECH   AT   ZANESVILLE,   O.  197 

Such  a  custom  seems  to  be  consistent  with  the  public 
interest.  The  official  term  is  so  short,  that  within  its 
limit  an  important  policy  or  work  can  hardly  be  estab 
lished  or  completed./  The  honor  of  a  re-election  was 
conferred  upon  Gov.  Hayes :  why  shall  it  be  denied  to 
Gov.  Allen  ?  I  think  I  am  safe  in  saying  that  his 
administration  is  acceptable  to  the  people.  It  has  been 
true  and  faithful  to  them.  And  towards  its  political 
opponents  it  has  been  liberal,  if  not  generous.  Avoiding 
their  spirit  and  practice  of  proscription  and  partisan 
hatred,  it  has  not  treated  them  as  unworthy  citizens, 
and  unfit  to  be  trusted,  but  has  allowed  them  to  share 
in  the  responsibilities  and  honors,  as  they  do  in  the 
burthens,  of  the  public  service.  Does  Gov.  Allen  not 
possess  the  personal  qualities  which  you  admire  ?  Is 
he  not  clear  in  his  judgment  to  discern  the  right,  and 
sincere  to  approve  it,  and  strong  and  bold  to  maintain 
it  ?  Do  you  not  know  and  feel  that  he  is  a  fit  repre 
sentative  of  the  giant  greatness  of  your  State,  as  he  is 
of  the  stalwart  statesmen  in  whose  association  most  of 
his  public  life  was  spent  ?  You  distrust  neither  his 
judgment,  nor  the  purity  of  his  motives.  Why,  then, 
shall  he  not  receive  the  honor,  and  the  State  the  bene 
fit,  of  his  re-election  ?  There  is  but  one  answer.  The 
Republican  leaders  cannot  afford  it.  It  will  endanger 
their  hold  upon  power,  and  will  loosen  the  grasp  of  the 
eighty  thousand  office-holders  upon  their  rich  emolu 
ments.  Already,  from  every  quarter,  they  are  upon 
you.  Did  you  not  see  the  circular  address  of  Mr. 


198  THOMAS   ANDREWS   HENDKICKS. 

Edmunds,  the  postmaster  at  Washington  City,  to  the 
office-holders  throughout  the  land,  for  money  ?  I  sup 
pose  the  Congressional  Committee  did  not  expect  it  to 
become  public.  The  sums  thus  realized  are  enormous. 
A  levy  upon  eighty  regiments  of  office-holders  will  fill 
the  party  coffers  to  overflowing.  To  what  uses  is  it  to 
be  applied  ?  No  national  contest  calls  for  universal 
bribery.  Ohio  is  the  object  of  attack,  because  she  is 
powerful  and  influential,  and  will  stand  almost  alone 
in  October.  To  the  full  extent  of  the  influence  which 
your  election  will  exert,  you  are  in  the  midst  of  the 
national  contest.  So  this  question  is  precipitated  upon 
you :  Is  it  for  the  good  and  welfare  of  the  people  to 
continue  the  managers  of  the  Republican  party  in 
uninterrupted  and  permanent  control  ?  For  many 
years  they  have  held  absolute  control.  In  the  spirit  of 
cruel  proscription  they  have  excluded  Democrats  and 
Liberals  from  all  participation.  They  have  had  their 
own  way  absolutely.  And,  according  to  all  fair  judg 
ment,  they  carry  the  entire  responsibility  for  our 
present  condition.  Our  country  is  unsurpassed,  if  not 
unequalled,  in  material  resources,  —  in  the  elements  of 
great  wealth.  Our  people  are,  in  an  eminent  degree, 
energetic,  intelligent,  and  industrious.  Yet  every 
interest  languishes,  and  the  people  suffer.  Frightened 
capital  is  concealed,  and  labor  stands  upon  the  street- 
corners  begging  employment.  Month  by  month,  the 
shadows  grow  and  darken  over  the  land. 

When  evils  become  intolerable,  the  remedy  of  the 


SPEECH   AT   ZANESVILLE,   O.  199 

people  is  in  a  change  of  administration.  That  is  your 
policy,  even  in  private  life.  You  do  not  continue  an 
agent  under  whose  management  your  capital  disappears, 
and  your  debts  increase ;  and  even  when  you  do 
not  see  the  causes,  and  cannot  locate  the  fault,  you 
will  organize  a  change  before  your  ruin  is  complete. 
Your  physician  is  not  continued,  although  he  may  have 
had  your  confidence,  after  you  see  that  he  is  not 
prepared  to  contend  with  the  calamities  that  threaten 
your  family.  You  will  not  sacrifice  all  your  little  flock 
to  a  former  devotion. 

Of  course  you  know  that  the  leaders  propose  no 
reforms.  The  present  policies  and  conduct  of  public 
affairs,  in  their  judgment,  reach  the  summit  of  human 
wisdom  ;  and  Gen.  Grant's  administration  furnishes  the 
world  and  coming  generations  the  model  to  be  imitated 
and  the  example  to  be  followed.  In  their  speeches 
this  year,  they  say,  that,  in  respect  to  its  efforts  to 
promote  the  purity  of  the  public  service,  it  eclipses  all 
Democratic  administrations,  and  that  no  President  has 
come  out  of  the  office  clearer  than  Gen.  Grant.  If  so, 
it  is  plain  that  no  change  should  be  made.  In  their 
State  platform  they  declare  to  you  that,  "  because  of 
the  distinguished  success  of  his  administration,"  Pres. 
Grant  is  entitled  to  the  gratitude  of  his  countrymen. 
If,  indeed,  that  be  sincerely  stated,  and  you  really 
regard  his  administration  as  separated  from  all  others 
by  its  superior  qualities  and  extraordinary  excellence, 
then,  as  true  men,  you  want  no  change  in  the  conduct 


200  THOMAS   ANDREWS   HENDRICKS. 

of  public  affairs,  but  you  desire  that,  as  this  adminis 
tration  is,  so  its  successor  shall  be. 

REPUBLICAN  FINANCIAL  POLICY. 

But  before  striking  a  blow  at  Gov.  Allen,  only  to 
perpetuate  the  present  conduct  and  policies,  will  you 
not  carefully  consider  the  same,  and  decide  whether 
that  be  your  real  judgment  ?  Upon  finance,  what  do 
you  want  your  vote  to  mean  ?  Do  you  wish  it  to  be  an 
approval  and  indorsement  of  the  policy  of  the  Repub 
lican  party  on  that  subject  ?  That  policy  is  found  in 
the  act  of  the  14th  of  last  January.  Gov.  Morton 
informed  the  people  of  Ohio  that  it  was  the  result  of 
consultation  and  compromise,  and  that  every  Republi 
can  Senator,  save  one,  voted  for  it,  as  did  all  the 
Republicans  in  the  House,  except  a  few  from  the 
Eastern  States.  No  Democrat  in  the  Senate  voted  for 
it ;  and  I  am  not  aware  that  it  received  any  Democrat's 
support  in  the  House.  In  the  speech  at  Marion,  Mr. 
Senator  Sherman  declared  that  he  reported  the  measure, 
advocated  and  voted  for  it,  and  heartily  defends  and 
approves  it ;  that  it  was  the  result  of  the  most  careful 
deliberation  ;  that  it  definitely  declares  a  public  policy ; 
and  that  it  is  the  fixed  policy  of  the  Republican  party, 
"  and  no  step  backward."  And  now,  as  that  act 
declares  the  deliberate  purpose  and  fixed  policy  of  that 
party  upon  a  most  important  question,  it  should  be 
accurately  and  generally  understood.  The  first  section 
provides  for  the  substitution  of  silver  coin  for  the  frac- 


SPEECH  AT   ZANESVILLE,   O.  201 

tional  currency.  The  silver  is  not  in  the  treasury,  and 
must  be  purchased.  The  special  despatch  to  "The 
Cincinnati  Commercial "  of  the  14th,  last  month,  says 
that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  will  be  obliged  to  sell 
between  thirty  and  forty  millions  of  five  per  cent  bonds 
for  that  purpose.  The  direct  effect  is  to  increase  our 
interest-bearing  debt  about  forty  millions,  and  the  annual 
interest  two  millions ;  in  other  words,  it  is  the  conver 
sion  of  a  domestic  debt  which,  bears  no  interest,  into  a 
foreign  debt  bearing  interest.  The  silver  coin,  when 
so  issued,  will  not  be  a  legal  tender  beyond  five  dollars ; 
and  its  depreciation  below  gold  will  be  nearly  if  not 
quite  as  great  as  that  of  the  currency  which  it  is  to 
displace. 

The  second  section  repeals  the  law  which  allows  a 
charge  for  coining  bullion,  and  is  proper.  The  third 
and  remaining  section  removes  legal  restrictions  and 
limitations,  so  as  to  allow  free  banking.  It  also  pro 
vides,  that,  upon  the  issue  of  bank-bills  to  the  banks, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall  redeem  legal-tender 
treasury-notes  to  the  extent  of  eight}^  per  cent  of  the 
bank-bills  so  issued,  until  the  volume  of  the  legal- 
tender  treasury-notes  outstanding  shall  be  reduced  to 
8300,000,000.  The  effect  of  that  provision  is  to  sub 
stitute  national  bank  paper  for  legal-tender  notes  to 
the  extent  of  about  882,000,000  of  the  latter.  The 
section  then  provides  that  "  on  and  after  the  first  day 
of  January,  Anno  Domini  eighteen  hundred  and  sev 
enty-nine,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall  redeem 


202  THOMAS   ANDREWS   HENDRICKS. 

in  coin  the  United  States  legal-tender  notes  then  out 
standing,  on  their  presentation  for  redemption  at  the 
office  of  the  Assistant  Treasurer  of  the  United  States, 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  sums  of  not  less  than  fifty 
dollars."  Thus,  by  the  process  of  redemption  and  sub 
stitution,  all  the  legal-tender  notes  are  to  be  taken  from 
circulation,  and  the  currency  of  the  country  is  to  be 
coin  and  bank-bills.  In  other  words,  it  was  intended 
to  give  the  national  banks  the  entire  field,  notwith 
standing  the  same  Congress,  in  the  month  of  June 
before,  had  given  the  country  the  assurance  that  the 
legal-tender  circulation  should  remain  at  $382,000,000. 
Such  was  the  construction  given  to  the  act  of  June, 
1874,  whilst  it  was  pending  in  the  Senate.  I  have 
given  you  the  language  of  that  provision  of  the  act 
requiring  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  on  the  first  day 
of  January,  1879,  and  thereafter,  to  redeem  the  legal- 
tender  notes  "  then  outstanding ;  "  because  it  had  been 
stated  to  the  people  of  Ohio,  that  "  the  bill  provided 
that  the  greenbacks  should  not  be  retired  so  as  to  leave 
less  than  $300,000,000  in  circulation."  From  the  lan 
guage  of  the  law,  you  will  perceive  that  all  the  legal- 
tender  notes  that  are  not  displaced  by  bank-bills  are 
to  be  redeemed  and  taken  out  of  circulation.  Do  you 
wish  your  vote  to  approve  this  measure,  and  fasten  it 
upon  the  country  ?  I  was  called  upon  to  preside  over 
the  Democratic  convention  of  Indiana,  last  year.  In 
my  address  to  that  body,  upon  this  subject,  I  said,  "  Our 
paper  currency  consists  of  treasury-notes,  declared  by 


SPEECH   AT   ZANESVILLE,   O.  203 

Congress  to  be  lawful  money,  and  national  bank-notes. 
I  am  not  in  favor  of  the  policy  that  proposes  to  retire 
the  treasury-notes,  to  make  room  for  an  increase  .of 
national  banks  and  their  paper.  The  treasury-notes 
are  the  cheaper  currency  to  the  people,  and  command 
public  confidence.  They  are  not  irredeemable.  For 
their  value  they  rest  upon  the  pledge  and  conscience 
of  the  country.  The  relation  between  the  holder  and 
the  government  is  direct.  The  people  are  not  required 
to  pay  interest  upon  national  bonds  deposited  as  the 
basis  of  their  security  and  value,  as  in  the  case  of  bank 
notes.  Passing  everywhere,  and  without  question, 
they  are  the  favorite  and  popular  currenc}^." 

I  ask  your  very  careful  consideration  of  the  last 
provision  of  the  act.  It  would  have  been  idle,  as  well 
as  vicious,  for  Congress  to  direct  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  to  redeem  the  legal  tenders  in  coin  without 
making  provision  for  the  same.  To  meet  the  necessity 
the  act  provides :  "  And,  to  enable  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  to  prepare  and  provide  for  the  redemption 
in  this  act  authorized  or  required,  he  is  authorized  to 
use  any  surplus  revenues  from  time  to  time  in  the 
treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated ;  and  to  issue,  sell, 
and  dispose  of,  at  not  less  than  par,  in  coin,  either 
of  the  descriptions  of  bonds  of  the  United  States, 
described  in  the  act  of  Congress  approved  July  14, 
1870,  entitled  4An  Act  to  authorize  the  Refunding  of 
the  Public  Debt,'  with  like  qualities,  privileges,  and 
exemptions,  to  the  extent  necessary  to  carry  this  act 


204  THOMAS   ANDREWS   HENDRICKS. 

into  full  effect ;  and  to  use  the  proceeds  thereof  for  the 
purposes  aforesaid.  And  alf  provisions  of  law  inconsist 
ent  with  the  provisions  of  this  act  are  hereby  repealed." 
At  the  passage  of  this  act,  there  was  outstanding,  as  I 
suppose,  $382,000,000  of  legal-tender  notes,  as  provided 
in  the  act  of  June,  1874.  Should  the  $82,000,000  be 
retired  by  the  substitution  of  bank-notes  under  the 
first  section,  then  there  will  remain  $300,000,000  to  be 
redeemed  with  gold.  It  is  not  probable  that  the 
$82,000,000  will  be  entirely  displaced  by  bank-notes : 
if  not,  an  excess  of  the  $300,000,000  will  remain  for 
redemption  in  gold.  That  excess  will  probably  equal 
the  surplus  revenues  in  gold  that  the  secretary  will 
find  available  for  the  purposes  of  the  act.  I  suppose 
it  may  therefore  be  assumed  that  the  secretary  will 
be  required  to  sell  five  per  cent  bonds  to  meet 
$300,000,000  of  treasury-notes.  The  immediate  and 
direct  effect  of  the  measure  will  be  to  increase  our  debt 
bearing  interest  $300,000,000,  and  an  annual  interest 
of  15,000,000  in  gold.  If  we  add  the  $40,000,000 
of  bonds  that  must  be  sold  to  buy  silver  to  displace 
the  fractional  currency,  we  have,  in  this  measure,  an 
increase  of  the  interest-bearing  debt  of  $340,000,000 ; 
and,  of  the  annual  interest,  of  $17,000,000  in  gold.  The 
bonds  will  be  sold  in  Europe.  This  administration 
conducts  all  such  transactions  through  a  European 
syndicate,  or  combination  of  banks.  Thus  the  debt 
will  be  a  foreign  one,  and  will  add  $17,000,000  to  the 
enormous  annual  exportation  of  gold  to  meet  interest. 


SPEECH   AT   ZANESVILLE,   O.  205 

What  consideration  of  obligation  or  of  good  policy  can 
support  this  measure  ?  In  the  midst  of  a  financial 
crisis  so  serious  as  to  disturb  the  foundations  of  our 
prosperity,  we  are  to  add  this  large  sum  to  our  foreign 
debt.  Why  is  it  done  ?  The  $382,000,000  of  treasury- 
notes  are  held  exclusively  by  our  own  people.  It  is  a 
domestic  debt.  The  holders  are  not  asking  its  redemp 
tion.  For  the  present  they  want  it  to  remain  circu 
lating  among  them  as  "  lawful  money,"  The  treasury- 
notes  were  issued  as  legal  tenders  at  a  time  when  they 
were  supposed  to  be  essential  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  public  credit.  It  was  deemed  expedient  to  issue  a 
portion  of  the  government's  credit  in  the  form  of 
currency ;  and  therefore  the  treasury-notes  bear  a 
double  character.  They  are  at  once  the  evidence  of 
a  government  debt,  and  are  a  medium  of  commerce  ; 
a  debt  to  be  paid,  and  legal  tenders  to  be  used.  They 
were  so  issued  by  the  government,  and  so  accepted  by 
the  people.  No  time  was  fixed  for  their  redemption. 
The  people  received  them,  leaving  that  to  the  pleasure 
and  conscience  of  the  government.  In  the  mean  time, 
they  have  been  used  as  money.  Then,  in  accordance 
with  the  purpose  of  their  issue,  should  they  be  with 
drawn  so  as  to  injure  business  and  labor  until  as  good 
or  a  better  currency  can  take  their  place  ?  Every 
obligation  of  the  government  must  be  met  and  dis 
charged.  Whoever  questions  the  fidelity  of  the  Democ 
racy  to  the  country's  honor,  in  that  respect,  speaks 
without  regard  to  truth.  I  fully  recognize  the  obliga- 


206  THOMAS   ANDREWS   HENDKICKS. 

tion  for  the  redemption  of  the  treasury-notes ;  but  I 
cannot  feel  that  it  must  be  discharged  at  a  time  when 
it  may  seriously  add  to  our  embarrassments,  and  when 
the  people  who  hold  them  do  not  desire  it.  In  our 
present  condition,  any  addition  to  our  foreign  gold 
obligations  is  a  calamity.  Will  you  vote  to  convert 
this  domestic,  non-interest-bearing  debt,  into  a  foreign, 
interest-bearing,  gold  debt  ?  In  this  statement,  I  have 
made  no  estimate  for  the  sale  of  bonds,  and  increase 
of  interest-debt,  which  may  be  necessary  to  enable  the 
secretary  to  redeem  the  882,000,000  legal  tenders,  which 
are  to  be  displaced  as  bank-bills  issue. 

It  is  now  my  duty  to  call  your  attention  to  other 
probable  consequences  of  this  measure,  more  frightful 
than  those  which  I  have  exposed.  As  the  time  for  the 
redemption  of  the  treasury-notes  in  gold  approaches, 
and  the  Secretary  prepares  for  their  redemption  by  the 
sale  of  bonds  and  the  accumulation  of  gold  in  the 
treasury,  they  will  rapidly  advance  in  value.  During 
the  period  of  two  years  before  the  redemption  com 
mences,  persons  who  are  able  to  hold  money  out  of 
active  use  will  accumulate  and  retire  the  treasury- 
notes  for  the  profit  of  their  increasing  value.  The 
banks  are  permitted  by  law  to  redeem  their  bills  in 
treasury-notes.  So  long  as  the  bills  and  notes  are 
about  the  same  value,  the  bills  are  not  presented  to  the 
banks  for  payment.  But,  as  soon  as  the  treasury-notes 
advance  in  value,  they  will  be  presented  for  payment. 
The  banks  will  anticipate  that  probable  result,  and 


SPEECH  AT  ZANESVILLE,   O.  207 

will  prepare  for  it  by  hoarding  the  treasury-notes  for 
the  redemption  of  their  paper.  The  probable  conse 
quence  will  be,  that  under  these  influences  the  treas 
ury-notes  will,  for  a  considerable  period  of  time,  be 
withdrawn  from  circulation,  and  our  currency  will  be 
contracted  to  nearly  one-half  its  quantity.  As  rapidly 
as  the  treasury-notes  are  used  in  the  redemption  and 
retirement  of  the  bank-bills,  they  will  be  presented  at 
the  treasury  for  redemption  in  gold,  and  will  disappear 
forever.  I  know  it  is  said,  that,  as  soon  as  it  is  estab 
lished  that  they  are  redeemable  in  gold,  they  will  not 
be  presented,  as  they  will  then  be  as  good  as  gold.  To 
some  extent  that  would  be  true  in  a  time  of  established 
composure  and  confidence ;  but  that  will  not  be  the 
condition  of  our  country  whilst  this  law  is  being 
executed.  Do  you  not  present  your  negotiable  paper 
at  maturity,  merely  because  you  have  confidence  in  the 
ability  and  willingness  of  your  debtor  ?  How  long  do 
you  think  the  gold  paid  out  in  the  redemption  of  the 
treasury-notes  will  remain  in  the  country?  Will  it 
pass  along  the  veins  and  arteries  of  business,  and  give 
life  and  energy  ?  In  a  time  of  general  confidence 
it  might  be  so,  but  not  whilst  this  law  is  being  exe 
cuted.  Public  confidence  and  financial  stability  cannot 
be  made  to  rest  upon  borrowed  gold.  This  measure 
will  increase  our  gold  obligations  abroad,  and,  because 
of  contraction,  will  reduce  production  at  home.  This 
flow  of  gold  abroad  will  continue,  and  the  borrowed 
gold  will  soon  be  gone. 


208  THOMAS   ANDKEWS   HENDRICKS. 

In  this  presentation  of  the  subject  I  have  not  con 
sidered  the  possibility  of  any  extraordinary  foreign 
demand.  Any  great  financial  crisis  abroad,  or  disturb 
ance  of  the  peace  of  Europe,  would  cause  our  bonds  to 
be  thrown  upon  our  market  in  large  quantities,  and  a 
corresponding  draft  upon  our  supply  of  gold.  I  do 
not  believe  we  can  rely  upon  this  measure  for  any 
supply  of  gold  to  our  domestic  currency  that  will  be 
permanent  or  useful.  Substantially  our  reliance  for  a 
currency  must,  then,  be  upon  the  banks.  Will  they  be 
in  a  condition  to  supply  it  ?  The  retirement  of  the 
treasury-notes  will  leave  them  under  the  obligation  to 
redeem  in  gold  only.  Can  they  meet  that  obligation  ? 
And,  with  the  known  uncertainty  in  the  supply  of  gold, 
will  they  venture  to  throw  their  paper  upon  the  cur 
rents  of  trade  in  quantities  at  all  adequate  to  the 
demands  of  legitimate  business?  The  act  permits 
free  banking;  and  the  bills  are  yet  redeemable  in 
treasury-notes.  What  has  been  the  result?  The 
statement  of  the  comptroller,  made  on  the  6th  of  July, 
shows  that  since  the  passage  of  the  law,  Jan.  14,  1875, 
to  the  1st  of  July,  nearly  half  a  year,  the  increase 
of  bank  currency  is  but  87,558.  Does  this  statement 
justify  the  opinion,  that,  after  the  treasury-notes  have 
ceased  to  be  available  for  redemption,  the  banks  will 
venture  their  paper  upon  the  disturbed  currents  of 
business  ?  I  believe  the  financial  policy  of  this  admin 
istration,  and  of  the  party  which  supports  it,  as 
expressed  in  this  act  of  Congress,  will  so  contract  the 


SPEECH   AT   ZANESVILLE,    O.  209 

currency  as  to  paralyze  all  legitimate  business,  and 
leave  labor  in  rags  begging  for  employment.  I  know 
the  opinion  is  entertained,  —  for  I  have  heard  it 
expressed  by  many,  —  that  the  law  is  so  clearly  impoli 
tic  that  its  execution  will  not  be  attempted. 

Did  the  President,  in  his  first  inaugural,  not  say  that 
all  laws  should  be  executed,  whether  they  met  his 
approval  or  not  ?  But  the  law  is  now  being  executed. 
Many  millions  of  dollars  of  the  bonds  have  already 
been  sold  to  provide  the  means  for  the  retirement  of  the 
oustanding  currency.  Is  this  terrible  blow  to  fall  upon 
the  industries  of  the  country  ?  Ohio  stands  in  the  van. 
She  should  make  her  great  strength  so  felt  that  even 
Senator  Sherman,  who  reported  the  measure,  will  re 
spect  it  in  a  movement  for  repeal.  If  Gov.  Allen  be 
elected,  I  believe  it  will  be  repealed,  so  great  is  the 
power  of  the  people.  But  Senators  Sherman  and  Mor 
ton,  in  their  keynote  speeches,  declared  to  the  people 
of  Ohio  that  this  is  the  party  policy  to  be  approved 
and  stood  by.  May  it  not  well  be  claimed  that  Gov. 
Allen's  defeat  is  its  approval  and  indorsement  by  the 
people  ?  Will  you,  then,  expect  the  Senate  to  consent 
to  its  repeal  ?  However  earnest  we  may  be  for  a  return 
to  specie  payment,  we  cannot  wish  to  reach  it  through 
universal  bankruptcy,  and  a  frightful  increase  of  our 
foreign  public  debt.  Because  of  my  strong  belief  that 
this  measure  is  fraught  with  calamity  to  the  commercial 
interests,  to  the  industrial  pursuits,  and  to  the  labor  of 
the  country,  I  have  responded  to  the  committee's  invi- 


210  THOMAS    ANDREWS    HENDRICKS. 

tation,  without  reference  to  many  other  questions  that 
may  be  discussed  among  you.  Have  you  considered  the 
reasons  which  Senator  Sherman  says  controlled  his 
party  in  passing  this  law  ?  He  himself  wanted  another 
measure  ;  whether  better  or  worse  than  this,  I  need  not 
consider.  He  wished  to  fund  the  treasury-notes  until 
the  residue  should  be  at  par  with  gold ;  by  how  great 
a  contraction,  neither  he  nor  I  can  say ;  how  destruc 
tive  to  business,  no  one  can  say.  Probably  the  country 
would  become  strewn  with  broken  fortunes,  and  the 
highways  filled  with  wretched  men  seeking  employ 
ment.  His  party  friends  would  not  agree  to  it.  He 
says  they  had  gone  into  the  canvass  of  last  year  with 
divided  counsels;  and  the  result  was  defeat.  When 
they  met  last  winter,  they  were  taught  by  the  defeat 
that  the  party  in  power  must  agree  upon  some  measure  ; 
and  the  result  was  the  passage  of  this  law.  It  is  a 
strange  statement,  —  confession,  I  may  say,  —  that  a  law 
affecting  every  interest  of  the  people  was  the  child  of 
party  necessity.  Will  you  adopt  it  and  rear  it,  that  it 
may  destroy  you?  Your  decision  will  be  in  your  vote. 

SPECIE  PAYMENTS. 

Having  stated  my  objections  to  the  last-developed 
financial  policy  of  the  administration  and  its  party,  I 
ask  your  permission  to  read  what  I  said  to  the  people 
of  Indiana  last  year,  in  respect  to  specie  payments : 
"  The  expression  in  favor  of  a  return  to  specie  pay 
ments  is  very  general ;  but  the  real  question  is,  When 


SPEECH  AT   ZANESVILLE,   O.  211 

and  how  can  that  be  accomplished?  So  long  as  the 
supply  of  coin  is  so  small  as  compared  with  the  paper 
money,  it  is  impossible.  The  effort  now  would  probably 
result  in  commercial  disaster.  The  people  so  believe. 
No  sentiment  attributed  to  Mr.  Greeley  in  1872  was 
more  hurtful  to  his  political  fortune  than  the  demand 
for  immediate  specie  payments.  To  render  it  possible, 
without  hurt  to  the  country,  coin  and  paper  must  come 
nearer  together  in  quantity.  They  will  then  be  nearer, 
if  not  uniform,  in  value.  How  shall  that  be  brought 
about?  By  reducing  the  paper  currency?  With  the 
present  burthen  of  National,  State,  and  local  taxation, 
and  the  large  volume  of  other  indebtedness  to  be  pro 
vided  for,  that  cannot  be  borne.  It  would  cramp  busi 
ness,  and  paralyze  labor.  No  one  desires  a  return  to 
specie  payments  more  earnestly  than  myself;  for  I 
believe  gold  and  silver  are  the  real  standard  of  values, 
universal  and  permanent.  As  I  had  occasion  once 
before  to  say,  the  existence  of  commercial  mediums  of 
different  values  —  one  description  of  money  for  one 
class  and  purpose,  and  another  for  a  different  class  and 
purpose  —  is  too  serious  an  evil  to  be  long  endured. 
All  the  money  of  the  country  should  be  of  uniform 
value,  and  readily  convertible.  But  we  are  not  in  that 
condition.  Our  paper  money  exceeds  the  coin  by 
nearly  five  dollars  to  one.  How  shall  we  bring  them 
nearer  together  in  quantity,  that  they  may  approach 
and  meet  in  value  ?  Shall  we  commence  at  the  top,  and 
tear  down,  or  at  the  bottom,  and  build  up  ?  Business, 


212        THOMAS  ANDREWS  HENDEICKS. 

enterprise,  and  labor,  every  important  interest  of  the 
country,  demand  that  the  volume  of  the  currency  be 
maintained  to  meet  their  requirements ;  but  every 
interest  will  be  strengthened  by  increasing  the  supply 
of  coin.  How  is  that  to  be  accomplished  ?  By  encour 
aging  an  increased  production  of  our  great  staples  that 
command  the  foreign  market,  by  reducing  our  expen 
ditures  in  foreign  purchases,  and  by  reversing  the  fatal 
policy  which  has  sought  to  make  our  debt  a  foreign 
debt.  When  we  purchase  less  of  foreign  goods,  and 
sell  more  of  our  productions  abroad,  and  cease  to  pay 
so  much  of  the  interest  on  our  debt  abroad,  and  pay  it 
to  our  own  citizens,  the  current  of  gold  will  turn 
toward  our  shores ;  and  then  specie  payments  will  be 
certain,  natural,  and  permanent,  and  will  become  the 
basis  of  an  enduring  prosperity."  As  soon  as  the  busi 
ness  of  the  country,  and  the  condition  of  our  European 
trade,  will  justify  the  opinion  that  gold  is  accumulating, 
and  is  likely  to  remain,  Congress  may  safely  fix  the 
time,  and  provide  for  the  redemption  of  the  treasury- 
notes. 

When  I  addressed  these  sentiments  to  my  fellow- 
citizens  of  Indiana  a  year  ago,  it  did  not  occur  to  me 
that  there  was  a  statesmanship  beyond  and  above  all 
I  had  thought  to  be  found  simply  in  borrowing  gold, 
increasing  our  national  debt,  and  the  ever-recurring 
payment  of  interest  abroad.  I  had  supposed  that  our 
ability  at  all  times  to  redeem  the  paper  currency  in 
gold  depended  upon  a  permanent  as  well  as  a  sufficient 


SPEECH   AT   ZANESVILLE,   O.  213 

supply.  I  had  thought  that  gold  brought  into  the 
country  under  the  influences  of  increased  production 
and  commerce  would  remain,  but  that  borrowed  gold 
would  not  stay.  My  confidence  is  in  the  development 
of  the  resources  of  the  country,  in  its  increasing  and 
extended  productions,  and  in  the  stable  laws  that  regu 
late  trade  and  commerce,  rather  than  in  temporary  and 
arbitrary  devices  by  Congress.  More  than  once  during 
the  war,  under  the  lead  of  Senator  Sherman,  Congress 
undertook  to  regulate  transactions  in  gold,  with  a  view 
to  controlling  its  price  ;  and  you  recollect  how  foolish 
and  abortive  all  such  attempts  proved  to  be. 

REPUBLICAN  OBSTRUCTIONS   TO  RESUMPTION. 

The  party  that  now  seeks  continued  power  is  respon 
sible  for  the  two  great  impediments  in  the  way  of 
resumption.  By  strange  and  questionable  devices  they 
have  sought  to  make  our  debt  a  foreign  instead  of  a 
domestic  debt.  The  consequence  is,  that  every  pay-day 
large  sums  in  gold  are  sent  abroad  to  pay  interest 
coupons.  The  red  blood  flows  from  the  veins  and 
arteries  of  the  country.  Ireland  was  impoverished  by 
her  landlords,  who  expended  their  rents  abroad.  Cheap 
Chinese  labor  eats  at  the  vitals  of  our  prosperity  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  so  long  as  their  wages  are  sent  back  in 
gold  to  China.  The  farmer  grows  poorer  every  year, 
who  returns  no  nourishment  to  his  fields.  To  our 
State  convention  last  year,  I  made  this  statement  of  the 
second  impediment :  "  Cotton  and  tobacco  are  the  most 


214        THOMAS  ANDREWS  HENDEICKS. 

important  staples  in  our  exports,  at  some  times  exceed 
ing  all  other  commodities.  Since  the  close  of  the  war, 
it  has  been  the  suggestion  of  wisdom  to  encourage  their 
production  in  the  largest  possible  quantities,  as  it  had 
been  the  dictate  of  humanity,  Christianity,  and  patriot 
ism,  to  promote  reconciliation  and  harmony  between 
the  sections.  But  political  and  partisan  interests  have 
been  made  paramount  to  humanity,  and  the  welfare  of 
the  country.  Bad  governments  have  been  established, 
and  as  far  as  possible  maintained,  in  the  South.  Intel 
ligence  and  virtue  have  been  placed  under  the  dominion 
and  servitude  of  ignorance  and  vice.  Corruption  has 
borne  sway ;  public  indebtedness  has  become  frightful, 
and  taxes  too  heavy  to  carry,  and  development  crushed, 
and  enterprise  manacled.  In  a  word,  it  has  been  the 
government  of  hatred;  and  all  this,  that  party  might 
bear  rule."  They  have  nourished  the  noxious  plants  of 
corruption,  violence,  and  fraud,  in  Louisiana  and  other 
States,  rather  than  the  cotton-plant  and  sugar-cane. 
Agriculture  cannot  flourish  under  bad  laws,  corrupt 
administration,  and  cruel  taxation. 

I  suppose  it  is  entirely  clear  to  your  observation,  that, 
had  State  authority  been  respected  in  accordance  with 
the  Constitution,  and  the  people  been  left  in  the  con 
trol  of  their  domestic  affairs,  without  prejudice  or 
denial  of  right  to  any  class,  in  accordance  with  the 
Constitution,  greater  harmony  would  have  prevailed* 
between  the  races,  prosperity  would  have  returned  to 
those  communities  more  rapidly,  and  the  production  of 


SPEECH   AT   ZANESVILLE,   O.  215 

the  great  staples  would  have  been  much  more  abun 
dant.  Then  our  valuable  materials  of  export  would 
have  been  in  larger  supply,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
our  supply  of  gold  more  reliable  and  permanent,  and 
specie  payments  nearer  a  possibility.  Individual  hap 
piness,  and  the  general  interests  of  the  country,  have 
been  sacrificed  to  party  policy.  Harmony  based  upon 
justice,  and  the  protection  of  the  rights  of  all  classes, 
must  be  restored.  Prosperity  will  follow,  as  pure 
water  flows  from  a  pure  fountain. 

The  general  paralysis  of  business  and  employment, 
and  the  distrust  of  useful  investments  because  of 
shrinkage  in  values,  as  well  as  the  condition  of  our 
currency,  have  brought  about  differences  of  opinion 
among  Democrats.  I  think  these  differences  may  be 
adjusted.  I  have  heretofore  expressed  the  opinion 
that  a  wise  statesmanship  may  avoid  the  extremes  of  a 
contracted  currency,  cramping  enterprise  and  labor,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  of  an  inflated  and  depreciated  cur 
rency  on  the  other ;  that  they  are  the  extremes  of 
gluttony  and  starvation,  and  that  health  and  strength 
will  come  of  neither.  I  have  an  unshaken  confidence 
that  the  national  council  of  our  party  will  so  adjust 
these  differences  as  to  maintain  our  ancient  doctrine  in 
favor  of  a  sound  and  staple  currency,  and  of  policies  in 
accordance  therewith,  and  with  a  return  to  specie  pay 
ments  always  in  view,  and  at  the  same  time  avoiding 
the  disasters  which  would  inevitably  follow  contrac 
tion. 


216  THOMAS   ANDREWS   HENDRICKS. 

EXTRAVAGANT  EXPENDITURES. 

As  connected  with  and  having  a  very  important 
influence  upon  the  business  and  financial  condition  of 
the  country,  it  is  my  duty  to  call  your  attention  to  the 
extravagant  expenditure  of  money  by  the  General  Gov 
ernment.  The  last  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  shows  that  for  the  year  ending  June  30, 
1874,  the  "  net  ordinary  expenditures,  exclusive  of  the 
public  debt,"  amounted  to  1285,738,800.21.  The 
interest  paid  that  year  on  the  public  debt  was  $107,- 
119,815.21 ;  the  amount  paid  on  pensions,  $29,038,414.- 
66, —making  together  $136,158,229.87.  Deduct  the 
interest  and  pensions  from  the  net  expenditures,  and 
there  remains  $149,580,571.34.  That  sum  represents 
the  ordinary  payments  for  one  year,  after  deducting 
every  thing  that  resulted  from  the  war.  I  have  seen  it 
stated  that  the  expenditure  for  the  same  purposes 
during  the  last  year  amounted  to  about  $145,000,000 ; 
but  I  am  not  able  to  speak  accurately,  as  the  Secretary 
has  made  no  report  of  that  year.  Before  the  war  the 
ordinary  expenditures  were  from  fifty  to  sixty  millions ; 
sometimes  going  above  that,  because  of  extraordinary 
demands.  Do  you  not  think  two  dollars  for  one,  or 
about  one  hundred  millions,  ought  to  be  sufficient  ? 
Yet  they  now  require  nearly  three  to  one.  Favoritism 
always  costs  the  people  heavily,  but  it  seems  strange 
how  pretexts  can  be  found  for  $150,000,000.  Will  you 
vote  to  indorse  such  expenditures  ? 


SPEECH  AT   ZANESVILLE,   O.  217 

VICES  IN   THE   PUBLIC   SERVICE. 

Closely  connected  with  the  extravagance  is  the  im 
morality  which  pervades  the  public  service.  This,  too, 
calls  for  your  attentive  consideration,  and  your  sincere 
efforts  at  reform.  It  impairs  your  revenues,  and  dis 
turbs  public  confidence.  Need  I  particularize  ?  It  is 
known  to  you,  at  least  in  part.  What  department  is 
free  from  taint  ?  In  the  Post-Office  Department,  it  ex 
tends  from  the  conspiracy  to  defraud  the  Government  in 
the  mail  lettings,  involving  immense  sums,  down  to  the 
petty  pilfering  in  the  repair  of  mail-bags  in  the  neighbor 
hood  of  the  Post-Office  at  Indianapolis.  The  Treasury 
Department  has  been  singularly  unfortunate.  During 
the  four  years  in  which  Mr.  Guthrie  was  at  its  head, 
there  were  no  defaults,  and  there  was  no  money  lost ; 
but  of  late  years  long  lists  of  defaulting  officers  have 
been  published ;  and  recently  large  numbers  of  officers 
in  the  Internal  Revenue  Service  have  been  detected  in 
complicated  and  enormous  frauds.  The  Department  of 
Justice,  under  the  management  of  the  late  Attorney 
General,  became  the  instrument  of  injustice.  Cruel  in 
its  political  prosecutions,  and  unscrupulous  in  the  use 
of  the  public  money  for  political  purposes,  it  became 
the  object  of  general  suspicion  and  distrust.  Arkansas 
and  North  Carolina  were  the  scenes  of  its  most  auda 
cious  misappropriation  of  money. 

Will  it  be  proper  for  me  to  speak  of  the  Interior 
Department?  An  Ohio  man  is  at  its  head.  I  will 


218  THOMAS   ANDREWS   HEKDRICKS. 

speak  of  the  Indian  service  only.  In  former  adminis 
trations  the  entire  cost  of  that  service  was  but  about 
$3,000,000,  when  the  Indians  were  more  numerous 
than  now.  During  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration,  that 
was  about  the  cost  of  the  service.  In  his  message  of 
December,  1863,  he  says  that  for  the  prior  year  the 
payment  on  account  of  pensions  and  Indians  amounted 
to  $4,216,520.79.  I  suppose  the  pension-list  was  then 
something  above  $1,000,000,  leaving  the  Indian  expen 
ditures  $3,000,000.  The  last  official  report  shows  the 
expenditure  for  the  Indian  service  alone  $6,692,462.09. 
It  has  more  than  doubled.  For  improved  administra 
tion  you  would  pay  more  money  :  but  where  are  the 
fruits  of  the  large  expenditure  ?  Both  the  Govern 
ment  and  the  Indians  are  cheated  in  the  quality  and 
quantity  of  clothing  and  food  furnished,  and  in  the 
false  accounts  that  are  allowed  and  paid.  An  army 
officer  stationed  last  winter  at  the  Red  Cloud  agency 
thus  describes  the  situation  and  scene  :  "  The  Indians 
are  all  quiet  now.  The  poor  wretches  have  been 
several  times  this  winter  on  the  verge  of  starvation, 
through  the  rascality  of  the  Indian  ring.  They  have 
been  compelled  to  eat  dogs,  wolves,  and  ponies."  Did 
you  read  the  description  of  the  dramatic  scene  in  the 
Interior  Department  on  the  first  day  of  last  June,  as 
given  in  the  despatches  ?  It  illustrates  the  policy  and 
style  of  the  department.  They  wanted  the  Black 
Hills  country.  The  Indians  were  brought  in  for  nego 
tiation.  On  that  day  they  were  in  the  Secretary's 


SPEECH   AT   ZANESVILLE,   O.  219 

room.  The  Secretary  was  there.  A  bishop  was  by  his 
side.  The  Indian  Commissioner  was  there  also.  $25,- 
000  were  offered  them  for  the  Black  Hills.  They 
did  not  want  to  leave  that  hunting-ground.  They 
were  reminded  of  the  desire  of  the  whites  for  the 
country,  and  of  the  difficulty  in  keeping  them  out. 
The  Secretary  then  told  them,  that,  if  they  did  not  take 
the  $25,000  in  thirty  days,  they  might  not  get  it  at  all. 
In  the  agony  of  his  soul,  the  chief,  Red  Cloud,  cried 
out,  "  Great  Spirit,  hear  me  !  Have  mercy  upon  me  ! 
Pity  me  !  "  Was  ever  such  a  prayer  uttered  within 
those  walls  before  ?  In  these  years  of  Indian  misman 
agement,  too  corrupt  and  cruel  to  be  described,  the 
Indians  are  becoming  more  treacherous,  and  the  borders 
more  insecure.  What  say  you,  my  countrymen,  to  a 
return  to  such  a  policy  as  Jackson  maintained,  when 
the  Indian  was  made  to  obey  the  authority  of  the 
country,  and  the  white  man  to  respect  the  rights  of  the 
Indian  ?  I  will  only  refer  to  the  late  shame  brought 
upon  the  departments  by  the  d&veloped  frauds  con 
nected  with  the  marine  corps.  These  are  all  recent 
transactions.  They  yet  remain  for  Congressional  inves 
tigation. 

THE  DISTKICT   OF   COLUMBIA. 

I  will  not  weary  you  even  by  a  reference  to  the 
notorious  and  enormous  frauds  that  have  been  investi 
gated  during  the  past  few  years,  except  that  in  the 
District  of  Columbia.  That  cannot  be  omitted, 
because  it  was  in  our  national  capital,  and  brought 


220  THOMAS   ANDREWS   HENDR1CKS. 

special  disgrace  upon  the  whole  people,  and  because,  in 
respect  to  it,  the  party  has  entered  a  plea  of  guilty. 
In  1871  the  District  of  Columbia  was  placed  under  a 
new  form  of  government.  The  governor  and  many 
officers,  and  one  branch  of  the  legislature,  were  ap 
pointed  by  the  President ;  and  the  other  branch  was 
chosen  by  the  people.  The  opportunity  to  maintain 
good  government  was  most  favorable.  It  was  immedi 
ately  under  the  eye  of  the  President  and  his  cabinet, 
with  a  party  so  strong  as  to  exclude  all  opposition. 
They  had  their  way,  and  developed  their  tendency. 
Corruption  and  favoritism  soon  had  sway ;  and  in  three 
years  the  debt  of  the  District  exceeded  $20,000,000. 
The  burthen  became  too  great  for  the  party.  Before 
the  world  it  was  admitted,  that  with  officers  appointed 
by  the  President,  and  elected  by  the  party,  they  could 
not  maintain  free  and  pure  government.  They  aban 
doned  it ;  and,  in  the  spirit  of  Rome's  government  of 
her  conquered  provinces,  they  placed  the  District  of 
Columbia  under  the  control  of  three  commissioners 
chosen  from  distant  parts  of  the  country.  Free  and 
representative  government  fell  before  corruption  in  the 
capital  of  our  country ;  and  it  stands  as  a  humiliating 
admission  to  the  world.  What  answer  is  made  to  the 
people  when  they  complain  of  this  most  extraordinary 
condition  of  the  service  ?  Will  this  plea  for  the  party 
be  received,  that,  considering  the  magnitude  of  the 
service,  there  "  never  has  been  a  period  in  the  history 
of  the  government,  when  there  has  been  less  fraud  or 


SPEECH   AT   ZANESVILLE,    O.  221 

peculation,  or  as  little  as  now  "  ?  There  are  old  gen 
tlemen  who  hear  me  to-day,  whose  memories  go  back 
to  a  better  time,  —  to  a  period  when  there  was  such 
pure  statesmanship  and  such  exalted  official  integrity 
as  inspired  the  world  with  a  higher  confidence  in  free 
republican  institutions ;  to  a  period  when  one  single 
case  of  default  aroused  the  indignation  of  the  whole 
country,  and  precipitated  the  downfall  of  an  adminis 
tration. 

What  say  you  to  the  oft-repeated  apology  that  they 
are  active  and  zealous  in  detecting,  pursuing,  and  pun 
ishing  criminal  officials  ?  Their  zeal  and  activity  may 
be  admitted,  for  there  is  so  much  to  do ;  but,  when 
they  suppress  fraud  in  one  quarter,  it  breaks  out  in 
another.  In  that  respect,  the  body  politic,  under  their 
treatment,  seems  to  be  like  the  body  of  a  man  whose 
follies  and  vices  have  brought  upon  him  disease  which 
pervades  his  whole  system.  If,  by  the  skill  of  the 
physician,  it  be  subdued  in  any  part,  it  soon  appears  in 
another.  But  the  statement  that  they  punish  their 
guilty  must  be  denied.  Who  has  been  punished? 
There  was  the  case  of  a  paymaster  at  Washington 
City,  who,  for  the  embezzlement  of  above  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars  of  the  public  money,  was  tried  by 
court-martial,  and  sentenced  to  the  penitentiary;  but 
Pres.  Grant  pardoned  him  within  a  year,  and  the  money 
was  never  returned.  On  the  contrary,  how  many  par 
tisans,  implicated  in  transactions  which  the  people  have 
condemned,  have  been  promoted  to  high  offices  ?  The 


222  THOMAS   ANDREWS   HENDRICKS. 

Tweed  defence  lias  served  them  well.  It  matters  not 
how  many  official  criminals  there  may  be  :  Tweed  is  set 
off  against  each.  Tweed's  mantle  has  fallen  over  and 
covered  from  sight  more  crimes  than  any  mantle  that 
ever  fell  from  human  shoulders.  Are  you,  honest  gen 
tlemen,  not  tired  of  that  trick?  Why  not  let  every 
man,  rogue  or  saint  as  he  may  be,  stand  in  his  own 
shoes,  and  be  judged  by  his  own  conduct? 

CHANGE  THE  ONLY  REMEDY. 

Do  you  not  perceive,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  for  all 
public  evils  your  only  remedy  is  in  a  change  of  admin 
istration?  This  you  know,  —  that  when  a  party  has 
been  long  in  power,  and  controls  great  patronage  and 
large  sums  of  money,  all  adventurers,  and  those  who 
seek  to  make  money  out  of  politics,  work  their  way 
not  only  within  its  ranks,  but  into  positions  of  influ 
ence  and  party  control.  Naturally  enough  they  become 
active  managers,  giving  their  money  liberally ;  and,  by 
taking  charge  of  primary  elections  and  conventions, 
they  control,  in  many  instances,  the  nominations.  Their 
hold  is  hard  to  break;  and  it  becomes  the  interest  of 
politicians  to  conciliate  rather  than  fight  them.  That 
is  the  reason,  as  I  suppose,  why  it  is  so  difficult,  if  not 
impossible,  for  a  party  to  correct  abuses  and  evils 
within  its  own  organization. 

That  you  are  convinced  there  should  be  a  change 
of  national  administration,  I  cannot  question.  Such 


SPEECH   AT   ZANESVILLE,   O.  223 

changes  are  made  upon  assurances  of  better  conduct, 
and  of  measures  more  consistent  with  the  interests  of 
the  people.  You  maybe  misled;  but  in  all  efforts  at 
reform  we  must  trust  each  other  somewhat.  Deceived, 
disappointed,  and  dissatisfied,  will  you  avail  yourselves 
of  your  only  remedy  ?  I  appreciate  the  fact  that  for 
mer  convictions,  prejudices,  and  associations,  stand  in 
the  way  of  thousands  of  good  men  whose  sympathies 
are  with  the  Democracy  and  Liberals  upon  the  pending 
questions.  I  cannot  doubt  that  their  present  convic 
tions  in  respect  to  the  welfare  of  the  country  will 
control  their  action.  They  know  that  even  in  times 
of  the  most  bitter  conflict  they  respect  many  of  the  sen 
timents  of  our  party,  especially  those  in  earnest  sympa 
thy  with  the  interests  of  the  masses  of  the  people. 
They  can  not  and  will  not  remain  separate  from  the 
organized  body  of  men  that  will  give  these  sentiments 
practical  force  and  meaning.  They  know  that  our 
principles  will  endure,  and  bring  practical  results.  May 
I  quote  myself  in  saying  that  "  organizations  may  be 
broken,  and  pass  away,  but  Democracy  cannot  die.  It 
is  endowed  with  the  immortality  of  truth  and  right. 
Wherever,  in  all  lands,  men  aspire  to  higher,  freer, 
better  government,  and  purer  liberty ;  wherever  there 
is  the  sentiment  that  government  is  made  for  man,  and 
not  man  for  government,  —  there  is  the  spirit  of  De 
mocracy  that  will  endure,  and  yet  achieve  man's  enfran 
chisement  and  elevation"?  He  was  a  great  man  who 


224        THOMAS  ANDREWS  HENDEICKS. 

said,  "  There  can  be  no  free  government  without  a 
Democratical  branch  in  the  Constitution."  May  I  not 
add,  "  There  can  be  no  free  policies  or  administrative 
measures,  promoting  popular  rights,  without  the  Demo 
cratical  element  and  sentiment "  ? 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  DEMOCRATIC  NATIONAL  CONVENTION,   AND  ITS 
WORK. 

The  Convention  Opened.  —  Permanent    Organization.  —  The    Plat 
form.  —  Nominations.  — Mr.  Tilden  nominated  by  Senator  Kernan. 

—  His   Address  and   Resolution.  —  Mr.   Hendricks  nominated  by 
Mr.  Williams.  —  His  Speech.  — Mr.  Fuller's  Speech.  — Mr.  Camp 
bell's  Speech.  — Samuel  Jones  Tilden  the  Nominee  for  President. 

—  Thomas  Andrews  Hendricks  nominated  for  Vice-President. 

THIS  body  assembled  in  St.  Louis,  June  27,  1876, 
for  the  purpose  of  nominating  candidates  for  President 
and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States.  The  Conven 
tion  was  called  to  order  by  Hon.  Augustus  Schell, 
chairman  of  the  National  Democratic  Committee. 
Henry  Watterson,  of  Kentucky,  was  chosen  temporary 
chairman,  and  Gen.  John  A.  McClernand  of  Illinois 
was  chosen  permanent  president.  Various  addresses 
were  made,  but  no  special  business  was  transacted  the 
first  day. 

THE  PLATFORM. 

The  Convention  re-assembled  at  a  quarter  past  two 
o'clock. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  —  The  sergeant-at-arms  will  clear 
the  aisle,  and  see  that  order  is  preserved. 

225 


226       THE  DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION. 

The  Committee  on  Platform,  I  am  informed,  is  ready 
to  report. 

MR.  MEREDITH,  of  Virginia.  —  Mr.  President,  and 
Gentlemen  of  the  Convention :  The  Committee  on 
Resolutions  have  finally  agreed  upon  their  report.  It 
is  but  fair  to  them  to  state  that  a  great  many  resolu 
tions  were  laid  before  them,  on  the  subjects  likely  to 
engage  the  attention  of  the  Convention ;  that  those 
resolutions  have  been  read,  examined,  considered,  delib 
erated  upon,  and  discussed ;  and  they  have  finally 
agreed  upon  the  following  declaration  of  principles, 
which  I  am  instructed  to  report.  I  will  ask  Lieut.-Gov. 
Dorsheimer  to  read  the  resolutions  for  me. 

Gov.  Dorsheimer  then  read  as  follows  :  — 

First,  We,  the  delegates  of  the  Democratic  party 
of  the  United  States,  in  National  Convention  assembled, 
do  hereby  declare  the  Administration  of  the  Federal 
Government  to  be  in  an  urgent  need  of  immediate 
reform ;  and  we  do  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  nominees  of 
this  Convention,  and  of  the  Democratic  party  in  each 
State,  a  zealous  effort  and  co-operation  to  this  end,  and 
do  hereby  appeal  to  our  fellow-citizens  of  every  former 
political  connection,  to  undertake  with  us  this  first  and 
most  pressing  patriotic  duty. 

Second,  For  the  Democracy  of  the  whole  country, 
we  do  here  re-affirm  our  faith  in  the  permanence  of  the 
Federal  Union ;  our  devotion  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  with  its  amendments,  universally  accept 
ed  as  a  final  settlement  of  the  controversies  that 


THE   DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION.       227 

engendered  civil  war :  and  do  here  record  our  steadfast 

O 

confidence  in  the  perpetuity  of  Republican  self-govern 
ment  ;  in  an  absolute  acquiescence  in  the  will  of  the 
majority,  the  vital  principle  of  the  Republic ;  in  the 
supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the  military  authorities; 
the  total  separation  of  Church  and  State,  for  the  sake 
alike  of  civil  and  religious  freedom;  in  the  equality 
of  all  citizens  before  the  just  laws  of  their  own  enact 
ment;  in  the  liberty  of  individual  conduct  by  sump 
tuary  laws ;  in  the  faithful  education  of  the  rising 
generation,  that  they  may  preserve,  enjoy,  and  transmit 
these  best  conditions  of  human  happiness  and  hope,  we 
behold  the  noblest  products  of  a  hundred  years  of 
changeful  history ;  but  while  upholding  the  bond  of 
our  Union,  and  the  great  charter  of  these  our  rights,  it 
behooves  a  free  people  to  practise  also  that  eternal 
vigilance  which  is  the  price  of  liberty. 

Third,  Reform  is  necessary  to  rebuild  and  estab 
lish  in  the  hearts  of  the  whole  people  of  the  Union, 
eleven  years  ago  happily  rescued  from  the  danger  of  a 
secession  of  States,  but  now  to  be  saved  from  a 
corrupt  centralism,  which,  after  inflicting  upon  ten 
States  the  rapacity  of  carpet-bag  tyrannies,  has  honey 
combed  the  offices  of  the  Federal  Government  itself 
with  incapacity,  waste,  and  fraud,  infected  States  and 
municipalities  with  the  contagion  of  misrule,  and 
locked  fast  the  prosperity  of  an  industrious  people  in 
the  paralysis  of  hard  times. 

Fourth,   Reform    is    necessary  to  establish  a  sound 


228       THE  DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION. 

currency,  restore  the  public  credit,  and  maintain  the 
national  honor.  We  denounce  the  failure  of  all  these 
eleven  years  to  make  good  the  promise  of  the  legal- 
tender  notes,  which  are  a  changing  standard  of  value 
in  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  the  non-payment  of 
which  is  a  disregard  of  the  plighted  faith  of  the  nation. 

Fifth,  We  denounce  the  improvidence  which  in 
eleven  years  of  peace  has  taken  from  the  people  in 
Federal  taxes  thirteen  times  the  whole  amount  of  the 
legal-tender  notes,  and  squandered  four  times  this  sum 
in  useless  expense,  without  accumulating  any  reserve 
for  their  redemption. 

Sixth,  We  denounce  the  financial  imbecility  and 
immorality  of  that  party,  which,  during  eleven  years 
of  peace,  has  made  no  advance  toward  resumption,  and 
no  preparation  for  resumption  ;  but,  instead,  has  ob 
structed  resumption  by  wasting  our  resources,  and 
exhausting  all  our  surplus  income,  and,  while  annually 
professing  to  intend  a  speedy  return  to  specie  pay 
ments,  has  annually  enacted  fresh  hinderances  thereto. 
As  such  a  hinderance,  we  denounce  the  resumption 
clause  of  the  act  of  1875,  and  we  here  demand  its 
repeal. 

Seventh,  We  demand  a  judicious  system  of  prepa 
ration  by  public  economies,  by  official  retrenchment, 
and  by  finance,  which  shall  enable  the  nation  soon  to 
assure  the  whole  world  of  its  perfect  ability  and  its 
perfect  readiness  to  meet  any  of -its  promises  at  the  call 
of  the  creditor  entitled  to  payment.  We  believe  in 


THE   DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION.      229 

such  a  system,  well  devised,  and,  above  all,  intrusted  to 
competent  hands  for  execution,  creating  at  no  time  an 
artificial  currency,  and  at  no  time  alarming  the  public 
mind  into  a  withdrawal  of  that  vaster  machinery  of 
credit  by  which  ninety-five  per  cent  of  all  business 
transactions  are  performed,  —  a  system  open  to  the 
public,  and  inspiring  general  confidence,  which  would, 
from  the  day  of  its  adoption,  bring  healing  on  its  wings 
to  all  our  harassed  industries,  set  in  motion  the  wheels 
of  commerce,  manufactures,  and  the  mechanic  arts, 
restore  employment  to  labor,  and  renew  in  all  its  natu 
ral  sources  the  prosperity  of  the  people. 

Eighth,  Reform  is  necessary  in  the  sum  and  mode 
of  Federal  taxation,  to  the  end  that  capital  may  be  set 
free  from  distrust,  and  labor  lightly  burdened.  We 
denounce  the  present  tariff-levies  upon  nearly  four 
thousand  articles,  as  a  masterpiece  of  injustice,  in 
equality,  and  false  practice.  It  yields  a  dwindling,  not 
a  yearly  rising,  revenue.  It  has  impoverished  many 
industries  to  subsidize  a  few.  It  prohibits  imports  that 
might  purchase  the  products  of  American  labor.  It 
has  degraded  American  commerce  from  the  first  to  an 
inferior  rank  upon  the  high  seas.  It  has  cut  down  the 
sales  of  American  manufactures  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  depleted  the  returns  of  American  agriculture,  an 
industry  followed  by  half  our  people.  It  costs  the 
people  five  times  more  than  it  produces  to  the  Treasury, 
obstructs  the  process  of  production,  and  wastes  the 
fruits  of  labor ;  it  promotes  fraud,  fosters  smuggling, 


230       THE   DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION. 

enriches  dishonest  officials,  and  bankrupts  honest  mer 
chants.  We  demand  that  all  custom-house  taxation 
shall  be  only  for  revenue. 

Ninth,  Reform  is  necessary  in  the  scale  of  public 
expense,  Federal,  State,  and  municipal.  Our  Federal 
taxation,  has  swollen  from  $60,000,000  in  gold  in  I860, 
to  $450,000,000  in  currency  in  1870;  our  aggregate 
taxation  from  $154,000,000  in  gold  in  I860,  to  $730,- 
000,000  in  currency  in  1870,  —  or,  in  one  decade,  from 
less  than  five  dollars  per  head  to  more  than  eighteen 
dollars  per  head.  Since  the  peace,  the  people  have  paid 
to  their  tax-gatherers  more  than  thrice  the  sum  of  the 
national  debt,  and  more  than  twice  that  sum  for  the 
Federal  Government  alone.  We  demand  a  rigorous 
frugality  in  every  department  and  from  every  officer  of 
the  Government. 

Tent^  Reform  is  necessary  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
profligate  waste  of  the  public  lands,  arid  their  diversion 
from  actual  settlers  by  the  party  in  power,  which  has 
squandered  200,000,000  acres  upon  railroads  alone, 
and  out  of  more  than  thrice  that  aggregate  has  disposed 
of  less  than  a  sixth  directly  to  tillers  of  the  soil. 

Eleventh,  Reform  is  necessary  to  correct  the  omis 
sions  of  a  Republican  Congress  and  the  errors  of  our 
treaties  and  our  diplomacy,  which  have  stripped  our 
fellow-citizens  of  foreign  birth  and  kindred  race,  re- 
crosing  the  Atlantic,  of  the  shield  of  American  citizen 
ship,  and  have  exposed  our  brethren  of  the  Pacific 
Coast  to  the  incursions  of  a  race  not  sprung  from  the 


THE  DEMOCRATIC  NATIONAL   CONVENTION.       231 

same  great  parent  stock,  and,  in  fact,  now  lately  denied 
citizenship  through  naturalization,  as  being  neither 
accustomed  to  the  traditions  of  progressive  civilization, 
nor  exercised  in  liberty  under  equal  laws.  We  de 
nounce  the  policy  which  thus  discards  the  liberty-loving 
German,  and  tolerates  the  revival  of  the  coolie  trade 
in  Mongolian  women  imported  for  immoral  purposes, 
and  Mongolian  men  held  to  perform  servile  labor- 
contracts  ;  and  demand  such  a  modification  of  the  treaty 
with  the  Chinese  Empire,  or  such  legislation  by  Con 
gress  within  constitutional  limitations,  as  shall  prevent 
the  further  importation  or  immigration  of  the  Mongo 
lian  race. 

Twelfth,  Reform  is  necessary,  and  can  be  effected 
only  by  making  it  the  controlling  issue  of  the  elections, 
and  lifting  it  above  the  two  false  issues  with  which  the 
office-holding  class  and  the  party  in  power  seek  to 
smother  it,  —  the  false  issues  with  which  they  would 
enkindle  sectarian  strife  in  respect  to  the  public  schools, 
of  which  the  establishment  and  support  belong  exclu 
sively  to  the  several  States,  and  which  the  Democratic 
party  has  cherished  from  their  foundation,  and  is  resolved 
to  maintain  without  partiality  or  preference  for  any  class, 
sect,  or  creed,  and  without  contributing  from  the  Treas 
ury  ;  the  false  issue  by  which  they  seek  to  alight  anew 
the  dying  embers  of  sectional  hate  between  kindred 
peoples,  once  unnaturally  estranged,  but  now  re 
united  in  one  indivisible  Republic  and  a  common 
destiny. 


232       THE   DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION. 

Thirteenth,  Reform  is  necessary  in  the  civil  service. 
Experience  proves  that  the  efficient,  economical  conduct 
of  the  governmental  business  is  not  possible  if  its  civil 
service  be  subject  to  change  at  every  election ;  if  it  be 
a  prize  fought  for  at  the  ballot-box ;  if  it  be  a  brief 
reward  of  party  zeal,  instead  of  a  post  of  honor  assigned 
for  proved  competency,  and  held  for  fidelity  in  the 
public  employ  ;  that  the  dispensing  of  patronage  should 
neither  be  a  tax  upon  the  time  of  all  our  public  men, 
nor  the  instrument  of  their  ambition.  Here,  again, 
professions  falsified  in  the  performance  attest  that  the 
party  in  power  can  work  out  no  practical  or  salutary 
reform. 

Fourteenth,  Reform  is  necessary  even  more  in  the 
higher  grades  of  the  public  service.  The  president, 
vice-president,  judges,  senators,  representatives,  cabi 
net-officers,  —  these  and  all  others  in  authority  are  the 
people's  servants ;  their  offices  are  not  a  private  perqui 
site  :  they  are  a  public  trust.  When  the  annals  of  this 
Republic  show  the  disgrace  and  censure  of  a  vice-presi 
dent,  a  late  speaker  of  the  house  of  representatives, 
marketing  his  rulings  as  a  presiding  officer ;  three  sena 
tors  profiting  secretly  by  their  votes  as  law-makers ;  five 
chairmen  of  the  leading  committees  of  the  late  house 
of  representatives  exposed  in  jobbery ;  a  late  secretary 
of  the  treasury  forcing  balances  in  the  public  accounts ; 
a  late  attorney-general  misappropriating  the  public 
funds;  a  secretary  of  tire  navy  enriching  his  friends 
by  percentages  levied  off  the  profits  of  contractors  with 


THE   DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION.       233 

his  department ;  an  ambassador  to  England  censured 
in  a  dishonorable  speculation ;  the  president's  private 
secretary  barely  escaping  conviction  upon  his  trial  for 
guilty  complicity  in  frauds  upon  the  revenue  ;  a  secre 
tary  of  war  impeached  for  high  crimes  and  confessed 
misdemeanors,  —  the  demonstration  is  complete  that  the 
first  step  in  reform  must  be  the  people's  choice  of  honest 
men  from  another  party,  lest  the  disease  of  one  political 
organization  infect  the  body  politic,  and  lest,  by  making 
no  change  of  men  or  party,  we  can  get  no  change  of 
measures  and  no  reform.  All  these  abuses,  wrongs, 
and  crimes,  the  product  of  sixteen  years'  ascendancy 
of  the  Republican  party,  create  a  necessity  for  reform 
confessed  by  the  Republicans  themselves ;  but  their 
reformers  are  voted  down  in  convention,  and  displaced 
from  the  cabinet.  The  party's  mass  of  honest  voters  is 
powerless  to  resist  the  eighty  thousand  officers,  its  lead 
ers  and  guides.  Reform  can  only  be  had  by  a  peaceful 
civic  revolution.  We  demand  a  change  of  system,  a 
change  of  administration,  a  change  of  parties,  that  we 
may  have  a  change  of  measures  and  of  men. 

Nominations  were  now  in  order.  Our  limits  do  not 
allow  of  all  the  speeches  that  were  made  for  the  several 
candidates ;  but,  as  is  proper,  we  give  those  of  the 
gentlemen  who  nominated  the  successful  candidates. 

NOMINATION   OF  MR.  TILDEN  BY   SENATOR   KERN  AN. 

The  secretary  called  the  State  of  New  York.  Senator 
Kernan  spoke  as  follows  :  — 


234       THE   DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION. 

Mr.  President,  and  Delegates  of  the  Democracy  of 
the  United  States,  I  desire  to  say  to  you  that  I  rejoice 
and  feel  a  pleasure  in  every  word  which  has  been  said 
in  commendation  of  the  distinguished  men  who  have 
been  presented  to  you  for  your  support.  They  are  my 
countrymen;  they  belong  to  the  glorious  party  with 
which  I  act ;  and  no  man  would  repel  with  more  indig 
nation  any  word  or  insinuation  to  their  detriment,  and 
no  man  feel  more  pride  in  all  their  glorious  fame,  than 
I  do.  But,  while,  fellow-Democrats,  I  appear  before 
you  to  address  my  words,  feeble  though  they  may  be,  to 
your  judgment,  swayed  by  nothing  but  your  love  of 
country,  the  election  which  we  are  to  have  this  fall 
rises  far  above  the  ordinary  elections  which  we  have 
had.  It  is  one,  in  my  judgment,  that  touches  the  wel 
fare  and  the  prosperity  of  our  people  throughout  the 
entire  Union.  It  is  not  a  mere  question  of  whether 
honorable,  honest,  and  upright  men  shall  be  elected,  but 
whether  we  shall  select  those  men  who  are  more  sure 
to  carry  the  election,  that  we  may  have  reform  and 
changes  which  are  essential  to  our  prosperity  and  our 
happiness.  Don't  we  need  change  and  reform,  you 
warm-hearted  men  from  the  South,  who  have  been 
trampled  down  under  this  Constitution,  and  who  have 
been  wronged  as  no  people  ever  have  ?  Don't  we  need 
a  restoration  of  proper  administration,  by  which  you 
men  in  those  States  shall  be  allowed  to  manage  your 
own  affairs,  and  shall  be  freed  from  plundering  adven 
turers  who  are  eating  up  the  substance  of  your  people, 


THE  DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL  CONVENTION.      235 

and  taking  from  you  all  real  republican  government? 
Don't  we  need  change  and  reform,  you  men  through 
out  this  fertile  and  glorious  West  ?  Your  industry  does 
not  get  its  just  reward ;  your  labor  goes  without  that 
which  labor  should  always  win  ;  your  industry  is  para 
lyzed,  and  your  capital  even  is  too  timid  to  aid  enter 
prises.  Don't  we  need  it  in  my  own  section  of  the 
Union,  where  our  closed  factories  and  where  our  dis 
pirited  laborers  seek  in  vain  for  that  which  shall  give 
bread  to  their  wives  and  children?  Ah,  we  need  re 
forms  that  shall  strike  taxation,  which  shall  lighten  our 
burden,  which  shall  give  us  the  prosperity  which  an 
economical  and  honest  administration  will  give.  We 
need  reforms  which  shall  bring  back  purity  and  honesty 
and  economy  in  the  administration  of  your  public 
affairs.  And,  my  fellow-Democrats,  I  appeal  to  your 
intelligence.  The  great  issue  which  is  in  the  minds  of 
our  people,  the  issue  on  which  this  election  will  be  lost 
or  won,  is  that  question  of  needed  administrative  reform 
where  we  can  get  it ;  and  in  selecting  our  candidates, 
without  any  disrespect  to  others,  we  should  select  men 
who  will  command  the  entire  confidence  of  our  people, 
as  much  as  we  can,  in  reference  to  these  questions  of 
reform  and  economy,  and  reduction  of  taxation.  We 
all  know  the  Republican  party  has  resolved  in  1868  and 
in  1872,  in  language  which  we  cannot  excel,  that  they 
would  give  us  reforms,  and  they  would  lighten  the 
burdens  of  taxation.  My  friends,  I  know  that  any 
Democrat  that  comes  into  the  administration  will  work 


236      THE  DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION. 

out  these  reforms ;  but,  if  we  are  wise,  we  will  take  a 
man,  if  we  find  him,  who  has  done  reforms  when  in 
office.  I  have  no  disrespect  for  the  Democrat  who  in 
this  Convention  can  utter  dissent  to  the  good  repute  of 
any  candidate.  I  honor  them  all.  I  am  addressing 
your  judgment.  I  have  said,  that  if  we  had  a  man  that 
had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  be  placed  in  public  position, 
who  had  laid  his  hand  on  dishonest  officials,  no  matter 
to  what  party  they  belonged,  who  had  rooted  out 
abuses  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty,  who  had  shown 
himself  able  and  willing  to  bring  down  taxation,  and 
inaugurate  reform,  —  if  we  are  wise  men,  and  have  such 
a  man,  it  is  no  disparagement  to  any  other  candidate  to 
say  that  this  is  the  man  that  will  command  the  confi 
dence  of  many  who  have  not  always  been  with  the 
Democracy,  and  make  our  claim  strong,  so  that  it  will 
sweep  all  over  this  Union  a  triumphant  party  vote. 
Now,  there  is,  in  the  State  whence  I  came,  a  Democrat 
who  has  the  good  fortune  to  be  placed  in  position  where 
these  qualities  have  been  exemplified.  There  had 
grown  up  in  our  great  Democratic  city,  men  who  called 
themselves  Democrats,  who,  under  the  guise  of  Democ 
racy,  dishonored  our  party  by  plundering  the  people 
whom  they  were  bound  to  protect  and  serve  ;  and,  citi 
zens,  there  the  one  I  shall  name,  connected  with  others, 
overthrew  these  corruptionists  in  their  own  party,  and 
they  restored  honesty  and  economy;  and  these  men 
have  flown  to  other  lands,  lest  they  should  be  punished 
for  their  crimes.  He  was  selected  as  governor  of  our 


THE  DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION.       237 

State.  He  came  into  office  on  the  1st  of  January,  1875. 
The  direct  taxes  taken  from  our  tax-ridden  people  in 
the  State  of  New  York  were  over  fifteen  million  dollars 
in  the  tax-levy  of  1875.  He  has  been  in  office  eighteen 
months ;  and  the  tax-levy  for  the  State  of  New  York  for 
1876  is  but  eight  million  dollars.  If  you  go  among 
our  farming  people,  among  our  men  who  find  business 
coming  down,  and  their  produce  bringing  low  prices, 
you  will  find  that  they  have  faith  in  the  man  who  has 
reduced  taxation  in  the  State  of  New  York  one-half  in 
eighteen  months ;  and  "  you  will  hear  the  honest  men 
throughout  the  country  say  that  they  want  the  man  who 
will  do  in  Washington  what  has  been  done  in  New  York. 
Now,  do  not  misunderstand  me.  We  have  other 
worthy  men  and  good  men  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
who,  if  they  had  had  the  chance  to  be  elected,  and  had 
a  chance  to  discover  the  frauds  in  our  State  administra 
tion  along  our  canals,  which  were  thus  depleting  our 
people,  would  have  done  the  work  faithfully,  I  doubt 
not ;  but  it  so  happened  that  Samuel  J.  Tilden  —  It  so 
happened  that  the  great  Democratic  party  of  the  State 
of  New  York  reaped  this  great  benefit  for  our  people, 
and  this  great  honor  for  our  party,  because  they  elected 
Samuel  J.  Tilden.  When  they  found,  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  that  he  had  been  thus  active  in  reforming 
abuses,  it  happened  that  he  was  the  man  that,  by  his 
measures  —  I  want  to  add  one  word,  my  friends,  and 
it  is  this.  I  do  not  come  here  to  vouch  for  my  opinion ; 
but  I  read  from  the  resolutions  passed  by  the  Convention 


238      THE  DEMOCRATIC  NATIONAL  CONVENTION. 

of  the  State  of  New  York,  with  their  three  delegates 
from  every  congressional  district  in  the  State,  which  is 
a  part  of  the  credentials  which  I  laid  before  this  Con-' 
vention  —  I  want  to  give  you  what  the  representatives 
of  the  Democracy  of  New  York  said  in  their  judgment 
was  the  position  of  the  gentlemen  I  have  named. 
After  passing  by  their  commendation  of  other  things, 
they 

Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  party  of  New  York, 
while  committing  to  their  delegates  the  duty  of  joining 
with  the  feelings  of  their  fellow-Democrats  in  all  the 
States  in  the  momentous  deliberation  of  the  National 
Convention,  decree  their  settled  convictions  that  a 
return  to  the  Constitutional  principles  of  frugal  expen 
diture,  and  the  administrative  purity  of  the  founders 
of  the  Republic,  is  the  first  and  most  imperative  neces 
sity  of  the  times.  This  is  the  commanding  issue  now 
before  the  people  of  the  Union,  and  they  suggest,  with 
respectful  deference  to  their  brethren  of  other  States, 
and  with  cordial  appreciation  of  other  renowned  Demo 
cratic  statesmen,  faithful  like  him  to  their  political 
convictions  and  public  trusts,  that  the  nomination  of 
Samuel  J.  Tilden  to  the  office  of  President  would 
insure  the  vote  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

MR.  WILLIAMS  of  Indiana.  —  Mr.  President,  and 
Gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  In  the  name  and  in 
behalf  of  the  united  Democracy  of  the  State  of  Indiana, 
I  put  in  nomination  Gov.  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  of 


THE  DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION.       239 

Indiana,  as  your  candidate  for  President  of  the  United 
States.  He  is  a  man  that  is  known  to  the  whole  nation. 
There  is  no  spot  or  blemish  on  his  public  or  private 
character.  He  is  presented  as  the  unanimous  choice  of 
the  Democracy  of  a  Democratic  State.  He  comes  here 
backed  up  by  his  delegation  and  by  every  Democrat  in 
Indiana.  There  is  no  fire  in  the  rear  here.  We  believe 
that  if  he  is  our  nominee  we  can  carry  the  State  of 
Indiana  by  from  twelve  thousand  to  twenty  thousand. 
You  delegates  in  this  Convention  must  determine 
for  yourselves,  by  your  votes,  whether  you  want 
Indiana  to  remain  Democratic,  or  not.  We  propose 
to  support  the  nominee  of  this  Convention,  whoever 
he  may  be.  There  is  no  diversity  among  us  on  that 
subject ;  but  we  would  like  to  have  a  man  for  our  candi 
date  that  we  know  that  we  can  carry  the  State  for.  In 
conclusion,  Mr.  President,  I  desire  to  read  the  resolution 
that  was  adopted  by  the  Democracy  of  the  State  at  its 
last  convention ;  and  with  that,  sir,  I  will  close :  — 

Resolved,  That  the  people  of  Indiana  recognize  with 
pride  and  pleasure  the  eminent  public  services  of  the 
Hon.  Thomas  A.  Hendricks.  In  all  public  trusts  he 
has  been  faithful  to  duty,  and  in  his  public  and  private 
life  pure  and  without  blemish.  We  therefore  declare 
that  he  is  our  unanimous  choice  for  the  Presidency  of 
the  United  States. 

MR.  FULLER  (lllinvis).  — Mr.  President,  and  Fellow- 
Citizens  of  the  Convention,  Depressed  under  the 


240       THE  DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION. 

weight  of  debt  and  taxation,  universal  corruption, 
general  demoralization,  and  all  the  evils  that  inevitably 
flow  from  a  persistent  disregard  of  fundamental  law, 
and  the  long  and  uninterrupted  retention  of  unlimited 
power  in  the  same  hands,  the  country  demands  a  return 
to  the  principles  and  practices  of  the  fathers  of  the 
Republic,  in  the  one  hundredth  year  of  its  existence, 
and  a  restoration  of  a  wise  and  frugal  government  that 
shall  leave  to  every  man  the  freest  and  purest  of  his 
avocations  or  his  pleasures  consistent  with  the  rights  of 
his  neighbors,  and  shall  not  take  from  the  mouth  of 
labor  the  bread  he  has  earned.  Dissatisfied  with  bare 
respectability,  which,  though  it  may  tend  to  retard, 
cannot  stay  the  downward  progress,  the  country  turns 
to  the  Democracy  assembled  in  convention,  and  asks 
this  great  party  to  put  in  nomination  the  next  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States.  That  nominee  must  be 
intrinsically  honest,  that  he  may  be  the  cause  of  honesty 
in  others ;  capable  himself,  that  he  may  be  quick  to  dis 
cern  and  to  appropriate  the  capacity  of  others,  as  well 
as  to  exert  his  own;  lofty  in  thought,  and  pure  in 
spirit,  that  he  may  drag  up  drowning  honor  by  the 
locks,  bring  governmental  administration  from  the 
depths  into  which  it  has  descended,  and  elevate  and 
purify  the  moral  tone  of  the  nation.  He  must  be  a 
statesman  of  breadth  of  mind,  and  such  grasp  of  infor 
mation  as  to  be  enabled  to  embrace  the  whole  country 
within  the  compass  of  his  judgment,  and  so  to  act  that 
he  will  secure  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  num- 


THE  DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL  CONVENTION.      241 

ber,  and  so  the  good  of  all.  Such  a  man,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  and  gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  is  presented  in 
the  name  of  Thomas  A.  Hendricks.  Endowed  with 
that  capacity  for  continuous  effort,  that  fixity  of  pur 
pose,  that  simplicity  of  habit,  which  characterized  his 
hardy  ancestry,  and  whose  progenitors,  centuries  ago, 
wrested  from  the  sea  the  land  on  which  they  live ; 
taught  by  an  education,  acquired  by  the  use  of  the  axe 
and  the  sword,  the  value  of  economy  which  the  world 
seems  to  spurn,  while  it  honors  and  does  homage  to  its 
fruits ;  and  schooled  by  thirty  years  of  eminent  and 
honorable  practice  at  the  bar,  and  twenty-five  of  con 
current  activity  in  both  public  stations;  of  stainless 
character,  with  a  record  which  needs  no  explanation,  as 
it  lies  out  in  the  sunlight  without  a  blot  to  mar  its 
beauty ;  conversant  with  the  interests  of  the  entire 
country,  though  particularly  those  of  the  Great  West 
in  which  his  Revolutionary  sires  were  pioneers,  and  of 
that  South  linked  to  it  by  a  thousand  ties  of  intercom 
munication,  common  interest,  and  mutual  affection ; 
added  to  all,  possessed  of  those  qualities  of  heart  that 
contract  friendship,  and  never  disappoint,  —  Thomas 
A.  Hendricks  would  realize  the  wishes  of  the  people, 
and  would  at  least  deserve  success ;  and,  if  deserved, 
what  better  leader  to  insure  it?  Here  on  the  fertile 
plains  of  the  West,  here  in  the  great  empire,  the 
seat  of  empire,  beneath  that  star  which,  so  long  leading 
the  way,  now  shines  resplendent  above  the  Valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  —  here  the  decisive  battle  of  the  campaign 


242       THE  DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION. 

is  to  be  fought ;  for  here  are  to  be  waged  those  great 
contests  which  precede  the  main  engagement,  and 
determine  it.  What  better  leader  than  he  to  meet  the 
advancing  hosts  of  the  enemy  at  their  first  onset,  send 
back  their  wavering  forces  to  the  centre,  and  mingle  all 
in  indistinguishable  ruin  ?  What  better  leader  than  he, 
who,  believing  odium  incurred  by  the  practice  of  virtue 
is  honor  and  not  odium,  in  the  disastrous  days  snatched 
victory  from  defeat,  and  lighted  up  with  the  splendor 
of  his  achievements  the  darkness  which  lasted  from 
1860  to  the  dawn  of  1876?  Already,  in  the  expectation 
of  his  candidacy,  the  people  are  conscious  of  approach 
ing  victory;  already  thousands  upon  thousands  are  lis 
tening  to  catch  the  blast  upon  that  bugle-horn,  well 
worth  a  million  men  ;  already  the  enemy  recoil  at  the 
suggestion  of  his  name,  for  they  know  by  that  sign  we 
can  conquer.  Mr.  President,  on  behalf  of  many  dele 
gates  from  Illinois,  on  behalf  of  thousands  of  Demo 
cratic  voters  of  that  State,  on  behalf,  I  believe,  of 
myriads  of  my  fellow-citizens  of  the  West,  the  thunder 
ing  tramp  of  whose  feet  as  they  rush  to  the  encounter, 
and  the  sound  of  whose  voices  as  they  rise  in  tri 
umphant  refrain,  as  they  march  from  the  smoke  of  bat 
tle,  I  have  the  honor  to  second  the  name  of  Thomas  A. 
Hendricks  of  Indiana. 

MR.  WILLIAMS  of  Indiana.  —  I  desire,  with  the  per 
mission  of  the  Convention,  that  Gen.  Campbell  of  Ten 
nessee  shall  occupy  five  minutes  of  my  time. 


THE  DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION.       243 

GEN.  CAMPBELL  of  Tennessee.  —  Mr.  President,  and 
Gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  I  am  instructed  by  dele 
gates  from  the  State  of  Tennessee,  who  received  their 
authority  from  the  largest  Convention  that  ever  assem 
bled  in  their  State,  to  second  the  nomination  of  the 
great  and  distinguished  statesman  of  Indiana,  the  Hon. 
Thomas  A.  Hendricks ;  and  I  pledge  the  State  of  Ten 
nessee,  that  if  this  Convention,  in  its  wisdom,  shall  see 
proper  to  approve  the  nomination  which  is  made  here 
to-day,  that  in  November  next  we  will  carry  him  at  the 
polls  by  a  majority  of  sixty  thousand  votes.  I  would 
not  be  doing  the  great  State  of  Tennessee  justice,  nor 
myself  justice,  nor  the  other  distinguished  gentlemen 
whose  names  have  been  and  will  be  presented  to  this 
Convention,  did  I  not  say  to  you  that  all  of  them  have 
many  devoted  followers  and  admirers  in  the  grand  old 
volunteer  State.  There  are  many  there  who  would 
like  to  follow  the  lead  of  the  great  statesman-governor 
of  New  York,  who  has  cleansed  the  Augean  stables  in 
his  State,  and  driven  the  hydra-headed  monster  of 
corruption  into  exile.  There  are  many,  very  many, 
in  that  State,  who  would  be  glad  to  follow  the  distin 
guished  soldier  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  ;  and  it  was 
when  the  black  clouds  of  subjugation  hovered  over  our 
heads,  that  he  was  the  first  to  produce  a  rift  in  the 
clouds,  and  to  hold  up  the  bow  of  promise  to  our 
people.  It  was  he  of  whom  our  distinguished  chairman 
once  said  he  was  like  a  sword  wearing  a  jewel  in  its 
belt.  But  there  is  one  consideration  that  has  more 


244       THE   DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION. 

influence  with  Tennessee  than  any  other ;  and  that  is 
the  simple  consideration  of  success.  We  feel  that  we 
must  conquer  in  the  battle  that  is  to  be  fought  in 
November  next ;  and,  in  casting  around  among  many 
of  the  distinguished  men  of  the  nation,  whom  Tennessee 
will  follow,  she  is  of  the  opinion  that  under  the  leader 
ship  of  the  great  statesman  of  Indiana  we  are  more 
certain  to  conquer  than  any  other.  And,  when  we 
look  at  his  character,  we  find  that  his  whole  history  is 
the  very  best  and  most  eloquent  sermon  on  political 
integrity  and  reform,  that  was  ever  written  by  man. 
We  find  that  his  Democracy  is  as  catholic  as  the  Con 
stitution  itself.  We  find  that  he  lives  in  a  locality 
where  there  are  no  dissensions  in  his  ranks.  We  find 
that  his  own  people  come  up  here  in  solid  phalanx  for 
him,  like  the  Macedonian  phalanx,  with  their  lances 
all  pointed  outward,  and  none  toward  their  friends.  I 
thank  you,  gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  and  give  you 
now  assurance  of  the  hearty  support  that  the  State 
of  Tennessee  will  give  the  distinguished  statesman  of 
Indiana  in  November  next. 

On  the  second  ballot,  Samuel  Jones  Tilden  was 
nominated. 

His  nomination  had  been  opposed  by  Mr.  John 
Kelley,  a  remnant  of  the  Tammany  Democracy  ;  but  to 
no  avail.  Indeed,  many  of  the  Democrats  say  Kelley's 
or  the  Tammany  opposition  to  Tilden,  and  Grant's 
telegram  congratulating  Hayes,  will  pretty  surely  elect 


THE  DEMOCRATIC  NATIONAL  CONVENTION.       245 

Tilden.  Indeed,  some  who  profess  to  believe  that 
Mr.  Tilden  is  a  greater  "  magician "  or  wire-puller 
than  Mr.  Van  Buren  ever  was,  affect  to  say  and 
believe  that  Mr.  Tilden  hired  Kelley  to  go  to  the 
Convention,  and  fight  against  his  nomination.  Well, 
Tammany's  opposition  to  him  is  a  pretty  good  evidence 
that  he  is  an  honest  man  ;  and  therefore,  if  Mr.  Tilden 
did  spend  a  "  barrel  of  money  "  to  get  nominated,  ho 
might  have  put  some  of  it  "  where  it  would  do  the 
most  good,"  even  if  he  gave  it  to  Kelley.  Some  do 
not  hesitate  to  say  that  Grant's  expelling  Mr.  Bristow 
from  the  cabinet,  and  Postmaster  Jewell,  and,  indeed, 
all  who  sympathized  with  Bristow,  will  secure  the 
election  of  Tilden  and  Hendricks. 

Indeed,  the  Republican  organs  are  about  as  severe 
upon  Pres.  Grant,  on  this  subject,  as  are  the  Demo 
cratic.  "  The  Boston  Advertiser  "  of  July  13  said,  — 

"  Meantime,  the  public*  are  sick  of  hearing  of  inces 
sant  interference,  on  the  part  of  the  President,  with 
petty  appointments  all  over  the  land." 

"  The  Daily  Globe  "  of  July  12  said,  — 

"  He  [Grant]  shows,  as  he  has  so  often  before  shown, 
that  he  has  no  comprehension  of  lofty  principles  of 
action,  and  little  sympathy  with  men  of  moral  convic 
tions  and  purity  of  character.  The  Republican  party 
is  responsible,  in  a  certain  sense,  for  his  administra 
tion,  and  cannot  free  itself  altogether  from  association 
with  it ;  and  he  is  using  the  time  left  to  him,  to  make 
the  burden  and  the  disadvantage  as  heavy  as  possible. 


246       THE   DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION. 

"  It  [the  Republican  party]  must  cut  loose  from 
Grant  and  Grantism,  and  show  that  its  new  departure 
is  genuine,  and  will  lead  to  the  proposed  goal ;  or  it 
cannot  continue  in  power." 

The  next  day  the  same  paper  had  the  following :  — 

"  Mr.  Grant  is  catching  it  this  time,  not  only  from  the 
independent  press,  but  from  the  organic,  which  shows 
that  the  Republicans  are  inclined  to  cut  loose,  as  we 
suggested  yesterday  they  must,  from  the  administra 
tion  wing  of  the  party.  In  Boston,  4  The  Advertiser ' 
advises  turning  the  cold  shoulder  upon  it ;  and  here 
comes  even  the  timid  4  Journal '  with  this  suggestive 
little  paragraph  :  — 

"  '  Let  us  see  :  less  than  eight  inomths  more  of  this 
peculiar  administration.  Let  us  brace  up  ! ' 

"  The  Evening  Transcript  "  of  July  12,  a  strong 
Bristow  paper,  is  still  more  severe  upon  Pres.  Grant. 
It  says,  — 

"  Gov.  Tilden  talks  bravely  about  entering  the  cam 
paign  for  reform,  with  all  the  consecration  of  a  soldier. 
Considering  the  composition  of  his  reforming  army, 
such  a  style  of  comment  appears  ridiculous  enough. 
And  so  it  would  be,  were  it  not  that  the  administra 
tion  of  Gen.  Grant  is  beginning  to  hold  itself  up  as 
a  warning  against  Republican  rule.  The  President, 
after  Gov.  Hayes's  nomination,  congratulated  him  on 
the  fact,  and  hailed  him  as  his  successor,  very  much  in 
a  Pickwickian  sense,  we  should  think,  considering  the 
support  the  Executive  is  now  rendering  the  Derno- 


THE   DEMOCRATIC   NATIONAL   CONVENTION.       247 

cratic  party.  Perhaps  the  crowd,  headed  by  Boss 
Shepherd  at  Washington,  who  has  now  too  much  of 
the  President's  confidence,  don't  fancy  Gov.  Hayes's 
unmistakable  utterances  respecting  civil-service  reform. 
Their  influence  is  gone  if  Hayes  becomes  an  occupant 
of  the  White  House,  and  the  Republican  party  again 
succeeds.  They  know  it,  feel  it,  and  are  acting  from 
motives  of  revenge  accordingly.  It  is  the  intrigues 
of  this  corrupt  cabal,  whose  advice  now  exercises  too 
much  sway  in  the  national  councils,  which  place  the 
administration  directly  in  the  face  of  the  best  Repub 
lican  sentiments  of  the  country.  When  Gen.  Grant 
echoed  the  sentiment  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
that  no  guilty  man  should  escape,  the  people  ap 
plauded.  Now,  under  a  different  inspiration,  he  is 
pardoning  the  revenue  thieves  with  indecent  haste. 
Nay,  more  than  that :  he  has  dismissed  almost  all  the 
officers  who  detected  and  punished  the  committers  of 
fraud,  and  saved  millions  of  dollars  to  the  national 
treasury.  By  this  course,  he  virtually  says  to  crooked- 
whiskey  venders,  '  The  Government  rejects  its  former 
attitude,  under  faithful  and  honest  officials,  and  here 
after  will  turn  its  blind  eye  towards  your  misdeeds.' ' 

The  Convention  nominated  Thomas  Andrews  Hen- 
dricks  for  Yice-President,  with  great  unanimity. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

WHAT  FOLLOWED   THE  NOMINATIONS. 

General  Enthusiasm.  —  Despatches  to  Gov.  Tilden.  —  Plow  he  received 
the  News.  —  His  Remarks. — A  Serenade.  —  Opinion  of  Hon. 
Charles  Francis  Adams.  —  Opinion  of  Hon.  Charles  G.  Davis.  — 
Opinion  of  Hon.  Charles  Levi  Woodbury.  —  Of  Hon.  Edward 
Avery.  —  How  the  News  was  received  in  New  York.  —  "  The  New 
York  Times/'  —  "  The  Sun."  —  "  Chicago  Tribune."  —Enthusi 
asm  at  Concord,  N.II.  —  At  Biddeford,  Me.  —Gov.  Tilden's  Ward 
in  New  York.  —  The  Committee  to  announce  to  Gov.  Tilden  the 
Nomination  perform  that  Duty.  —  Gov.  Tilden's  Reply  to  the  Com 
mittee. —  Selections  from  the  Speech  of  Senator  Bayard. — Dele 
gates  call  on  Gov.  Hendricks.  —  His  Address  to  them. 

THE  enthusiasm  was  general.  The  common  expres 
sion  among  the  delegates  was,  that  the  hour  and  the 
man  had  now  met.  In  the  mean  time,  Gov.  Tilden  had 
passed  the  day  quietly  at  the  Executive  Mansion  in 
Albany.  He  received  but  few  despatches  from  St. 
Louis,  and  returned  none.  In  the  evening,  the  "  Asso 
ciated  Press  Bulletin  "  was  received,  and  sent  up  to  him, 
announcing  simply,  "  Tilden  nominated  on  the  second 
ballot."  When  this  was  read  to  him,  he  simply  said, 
without  a  smile  or  a  frown,  "  Is  that  so  ?  " 

The  following  despatch  was  then  received  and  read, 
to  him :  — 


WHAT   FOLLOWED  THE  NOMINATIONS.  249 

ST.  Louis,  June  28. 

Gov.  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN,  —  I  congratulate  you  on 
your  enthusiastic  nomination.  Kentucky  will  most 
heartily  indorse  you  with  her  forty  thousand  majority. 

(Signed)  JOHN  C.  UNDERWOOD, 

Lieutenant- Governor  of  Kentucky. 


Then  he  inquired,  if  any  one  knew  what  the  vote 
was,  and  what  the  platform  contained  ? 

He  then  said  to  a  few  of  his  friends  around  him,  in  a 
very  low  tone,  — 

"  I  can  tell  you  what  has  been  done.  This  nomina 
tion  was  not  made  by  the  leaders  of  the  party :  it  was 
the  people  who  made  it.  They  want  reform;  they 
have  wanted  it  a  long  while  ;  and,  in  looking  about, 
they  have  become  convinced  that  it  is  to  be  found 
here  [pointing  to  himself] .  They  want  it ;  that  is 
what  they  are  after.  They  are  sick  of  the  corruption 
and  maladministration  of  their  affairs ;  they  want  a 
change,  and  one  for  the  better,  —  a  thorough  reforma 
tion.  You  will  find  there  will  be  a  larger  German  vote 
polled  next  fall  than  ever ;  and  it  will  be  largely  cast 
for  the  Democratic  ticket.  I  know  that." 

Other  despatches  were  then  received,  conveying 
congratulations  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  in  the 
midst  of  which  the  Governor  maintained  an  almost 
stolid  imperturbability.  Among  them  were  the  fol 
lowing  :  — 


250  WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE   NOMINATIONS. 

RALEIGH,  N.C.,  June  28. 

Cordial  congratulations.  North  Carolina  is  good  for 
ten  thousand  majority. 

(Signed)  W.  H.  BLEDSOE, 

President  of  Tilden  and  Vance  Club. 

LANCASTER,  PENN.,  June  28. 

Congratulations.  Tilden  and  Reform  will  carry 
Pennsylvania. 

(Signed)  A.  J.  STEINMAN, 

Member  of  State  Committee. 

It  was  determined  early  this  evening  that  the  Gover 
nor  should  be  tendered  a  serenade  to-morrow  evening 
after  the  completion  of  the  ticket ;  but  a  large  number 
of  the  citizens  could  not  wait  till  then,  so  they  secured 
the  services  of  a  band  of  music,  and  at  twelve  o'clock 
proceeded  to  the  Executive  Mansion.  The  Governor 
received  them,  shaking  hands  with  a  large  number, 
and  receiving  their  congratulations.  The  crowd  then 
retired  to  the  grounds  in  front  of  the  mansion,  when, 
after  repeated  calls,  the  Governor  stepped  to  the  door 
and  said,  — 

"  Citizens  of  Albany,  I  thank  you  for  this  impromptu 
expression  of  your  kind  regards.  During  my  resi 
dence  in  your  city  the  past  two  years,  I  have  received 
many  like  gratifications,  and  I  assure  you  that  I  feel 
grateful  to  you.  At  some  other  time  I  will  be  glad  to 
give  you  a  more  formal  reception,  and  now  will  only 
say  good-night." 


WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE   NOMINATIONS.  251 

The  Governor  received  congratulations  from  almost 
every  part  of  the  country,  which  there  is  no  necessity 
for  repeating  in  this  place,  and  which,  if  stated,  would 
fill  a  volume.  One  or  two  statements  from  prominent 
gentlemen,  may,  however  be  given. 

The  following  is  a  newspaper  report  (presumed,  and 
said  to  be  correct),  from  — 

CHARLES   FRANCIS   ADAMS. 

In  a  brief  interview  with  the  Hon.  Charles  Francis 
Adams  at  his  Quincy  home,  immediately  after  the 
reception  of  the  news  of  Gov.  Tilden's  nomination, 
the  veteran  statesman  very  frankly  gave  his  opinion 
of  the  nomination.  Mr.  Adams  expressed  his  surprise 
at  the  Convention's  arriving  at  so  speedy  a  decision. 
That  Mr.  Tilclen  had  secured  the  necessary  two-thirds 
on  the  second  ballot,  showed  his  great  strength  in  his 
party.  Mr.  Tilden,  said  Mr.  Adams,  is  a  formidable 
candidate,  especially  on  a  hard-money  platform.  With 
Mr.  Tilden  and  this  platform  the  Democratic  party 
stands  better,  morally,  before  the  people,  than  does  the 
Republican  party.  Hayes  is  nothing;  respectable,  no 
doubt,  but  without  any  record  as  a  reformer.  Tilden 
is  in  himself  a  platform.  He  has  made  his  record. 
Of  the  two,  said  Mr.  Adams,  very  decidedly,  I  would 
infinitely  prefer  to  see  Mr.  Tilden  in  the  Executive 
chair.  Mr.  Adams  further  said  that  he  had  feared 
Tilden's  enemies  would  stab  him  in  the  back.  His 
foes  were  jobbers  and  corrupt  men.  He  will  have  hid- 


252  WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE  NOMINATIONS. 

den  enemies  to  encounter  in  the  coming  campaign. 
The  traditionary  discipline  of  the  Democratic  party, 
the  party  pride  and  inclination,  will  cause  all  Demo 
crats  to  fall  into  line  for  Mr.  Tilden.  Mr.  Adams  also 
said  he  thought  Mr.  Tilden  Avould  carry  his  own  State, 
although  Thurlow  Weed  and  others  think  differently. 
The  independent  vote  will  probably  divide,  those 
voters  with  Republican  predilections  going  for  Hayes. 
However,  Gov.  Tilden  will  secure  the  support  of  the 
opponents  of  corruption  who  desire  to  see  real  work 
accomplished.  The  Republican  platform  is  weak, 
especially  in  its  financial  plank.  This  was  an  endeavor 
to  catch  both  the  "  soft"  and  "  hard  "  money  men.  As 
to  the  other  candidates  before  the  St.  Louis  Conven 
tion,  Mr.  Adams  thought  them  all  weak.  Hancock 
would  have  been  beaten  on  account,  partly,  of  his 
being  a  military  man.  There  is  a  reaction,  perhaps 
temporary,  against  military  men,  owing  to  the  dissatis 
faction  with  Gen.  Grant.  Thurman  would  have  been 
a  fair  candidate,  but  not  strong.  It  will  be  a  hard 
fight.  Tilden's  war  record  is  a  good  one.  He  is  all 
right  there.  As  President,  Mr.  Tilden  would  sweep 
away  corrupt  men  and  abuses. 

Another  individual's   opinion   must   be  given,  as   it 
comes  from  the  "  Old  Colony,"  Mass. 

HON.   CHARLES   G.   DAVIS   OF   PLYMOUTH. 

Hon.  Charles  G.  Davis  was  interviewed  last  evening 
upon  the  nomination  at  St.  Louis.     "  You  know  very 


WHAT   FOLLOWED  THE  NOMINATIONS.  253 

well,"  said  he,  "  if  you  have  taken  any  pains  to  learn, 
my  reasons  for  abandoning  the  Republican  party  :  that 
I  consider  it  an  historical  and  philosophical  impossi 
bility  for  any  political  party,  dynasty,  corporation,  or 
sect,  to  reform  itself  after  its  organization  has  once  be 
come  corrupt,  so  long  as  it  is  in  power.  Men  in  power 
do  not  reform  themselves.  Individual  character  is 
seldom,  perhaps  never,  changed  after  its  characteristics 
are  bedded  by  time,  and  never  in  the  full  flush  of 
power  or  success.  In  such  cases,  to  reform  the  person 
or  power  or  class,  it  must  be  put  in  Coventry  for  a  time. 
For  these  reasons  I  have  long  been  of  the  opinion  that 
it  would  take  more  than  a  Hercules  now  to  cleanse  the 
Augean  stables  of  Republicanism.  The  nomination 
and  election  of  the  best  man  on  earth  by  the  Republi 
can  party,  unless  he  had  superhuman  power,  could 
avail  nothing.  If  elected,  such  a  nominee  must  come 
into  power  with  a  Republican  Congress  elected  at  the 
same  time,  and  with  an  army  of  office-holders  who  have 
assisted  in  his  election.  How  can  he  effect  his  object, 
even  if  he  has  the  will  to  do  it  ?  Such  a  Congress  will 
protect  the  office-holders'  rings,  and  he  cannot  know 
where  corruption  wasteth  at  noonday.  He  will  be 
practically  impotent.  How  much  more  must  this  be 
the  case  with  a  weak  man,  howsoever  honest?  We 
want,  to-day,  a  man  of  will,  of  honest  intent,  who  has 
long  dealt  with  men  acquainted  with  affairs,  who  dares 
to  say  "  Yes,"  and  also  dares  to  say  "  No,"  —  a  positive 
man,  brought  up  in  the  principles  of  Democratic  sim- 


254  WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE  NOMINATIONS. 

plicity  and  economy;  and  such  a  man  is  Tilden.  I 
feared  that  the  Convention  and  politicians  might  be 
tempted  to  nominate  a  military  hero,  who,  of  however 
good  report,  character,  and  ability,  was  not  versed  in 
public  affairs  and  civil  life.  The  people  to-day  ask  not 
only  for  an  honest  man,  but  a  statesman.  So  far  as 
New  England  is  concerned,  if  elected,  Tilden  will 
awaken  the  blinded  eyes  of  our  infatuated  manufactur 
ers,  who  are  to-day  losing  the  foreign  market  by  their 
own  tariff,  and  allowing  all  the  coarser  manufactures 
to  move  to  the  West,  nearer  the  only  market  which 
Republican  rule  has  left  to  us.  The  party  North  and 
South  has  shown  its  loyalty  by  avowals  and  protesta 
tions  which  present  a  moral  spectacle,  seldom,  if  ever, 
seen  after  a  civil  war.  And  what  we  want  now  is  not 
professions  only  of  pleasure  that  the  South  and  the 
North  shake  hands  at  Bunker  Hill,  but  acts  which 
show  that  we  mean  what  we  profess.  It  was  the  South 
which  came  to  Bunker  Hill ;  let  the  North  now  show 
that  she  means  what  she  professes.  The  political  death 
of  Blaine  has,  to  some  extent,  washed  the  bloody  shirt ; 
but  it  is  still  flaunted  before  our  eyes." 

One  more  prominent  citizen  expressed  himself  as 
follows :  — 

HON.    CHARLES   LEVI  WOODBUEY. 

This  is  a  regular  reform  ticket;  and  its  effect  through 
out  the  United  States  will  be  to  arouse  every  honest 
man  who  desires  to  keep  his  country  in  the  paths  that 


WHAT   FOLLOWED  THE  NOMINATIONS.  255 

the  founders  laid  out  for  it.  I  regard  it  as  the  strongest 
nomination  the  Democrats  could  have.  It  brings  the 
issues  of  the  campaign  back  to  the  questions  of  the 
day  which  really  concern  the  well-being  of  the  Repub 
lic.  With  Tilden  we  shall  have  a  country  where  the 
laws  will  be  obeyed  by  the  Executive  Department,  and 
the  liberty  of  the  citizen  will  be  protected  at  home  and 
abroad.  Mr.  Tilden's  talent  for  carrying  out  economy 
in  the  administration  of  the  Government  will  insure  a 
reduction  of  expenses,  and  by  the  consequent  decrease 
of  taxation  will  bring  back  prosperity  to  all  the  indus 
tries  of  the  country.  Labor  now  will  have  a  chance 
of  obtaining  a  fair  reward  for  its  industry,  and  the  con 
fidence  of  capitalists  will  be  restored  so  that  enterprise 
will  have  fair  prospects  of  success.  I  think  every  in 
dustrial  department  of  the  land  will  feel  a  fresh  stimu 
lus  from  this  nomination.  I  regard  it  as  the  key  of 
returning  prosperity  to  our  manufactures  and  to  our 
mining  and  agricultural  interests.  To  the  South  it 
promises  a  stable  currency,  a  market  for  her  products, 
and  a  renewed  prosperity.  Thus  the  South  will  again 
become  a  great  market  for  the  mechanical  products  of 
the  Eastern  and  Middle  States.  In  a  purely  political 
aspect  Mr.  Tilden  will  be  the  embodiment  of  peace  and 
renewed  confidence  between  the  sections  of  the  Union 
lately  dissevered.  His  nomination  is  the  true  embodi 
ment  of  that  spirit  of  love  and  loyalty  which  found  its 
first  public  demonstration  at  the  Centennial  celebration 
of  Bunker  Hill  last  year  in  Boston,  and  which  in  this 


256  WHAT   FOLLOWED  THE  NOMINATIONS. 

centennial  year  is  destined  in  a  wider  field  to  bring  the 
whole  country  into  a  union  of  harmony,  equal  rights, 
and  liberty  to  all.  The  North  has  this  assurance  in 
Tilden's  record  as  an  old  Barn-burner,  that  he  is  neither 
wedded  to  pro-slavery  affiliations,  or  desirous  of  yield 
ing  any  thing  to  the  South  not  clearly  her  right.  This 
nomination  presented  the  remarkable  fact  that  Gov. 
Tilden  on  the  first  ballot  had  more  than  a  majority  of 
the  whole  number  of  votes  in  Convention.  When  we 
reflect  that  this  has  not  happened  in  any  Democratic 
Convention  since  the  nomination  of  Martin  Van  Buren, 
it  affords  a  striking  evidence  of  the  great  respect  which 
the  representatives  of  the  thirty-seven  States  have  for 
the  character  and  ability  of  Gov.  Tilden.  He  is  thus 
well  known  throughout  the  Union,  universally  re 
spected,  and  will  command  the  entire  strength  of  the 
Democratic  party,  with  every  prospect  of  cariying  all 
the  floating  vote,  including  both  the  German,  European, 
and  American  population,  who  look  to  honesty  and 
ability  as  the  true  requisites  for  a  useful  President. 

HON.   EDWARD   A  VERY 

said  last  night :  "  The  way  the  thing  struck  me  from 
the  beginning  was,  that  this  whole  contest  had  got  to 
be  fought  out  on  the  proposition  of  governmental  reform, 
and  simply  upon  that  ground.  It  became  apparent  to 
me  some  time  ago,  that  Tilden  was  the  only  Democrat 
in  the  country  who  had  the  opportunity  of  practically 
showing  his  ability  and  willingness  to  carry  out  reform, 


WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE   NOMINATIONS.  257 

irrespective  of  political  friends,  and  that  therefore  he 
was  the  only  proper  person  upon  whom  the  party  could 
centre  as  the  candidate  in  this  contest ;  and  after  Hayes's 
nomination  it  became  more  apparent  than  ever.  Before 
that,  if  we  desired  success,  it  was  absolutely  necessary 
that  we  should  nominate  him ;  and  I  cannot  see,  from 
the  investigation  I  have  made,  any  thing  to  indicate  that 
he  will  not  be  able  to  carry  the  greater  part  of  the  Ger 
man  vote,  the  Middle  States,  and  the  West,  or  that  he 
is  not  acceptable  to  the  Democratic  Central  States.  If 
we  are  wise  in  the  nomination  of  vice-president  we  shall 
have  a  chance  to  carry  Indiana  in  October."  In  regard 
to  the  platform  Mr.  Avery,  who  was  on  the  committee 
on  resolutions,  says,  "  We  dissented,  in  connection  with 
several  other  gentlemen  from  Maine,  Connecticut,  New 
York,  and  New  Jersey,  from  that  portion  of  the  platform 
that  calls  for  the  repeal  of  the  resumption  laws  ;  but  in 
every  other  respect  the  platform  was  entirely  satisfac 
tory  to  the  Massachusetts  delegation,  and  we  only 
dissented  from  that  proposition  because  it  might  be 
misunderstood.  I  consider  the  nomination  and  the  plat 
form  the  triumph  of  hard  money  and  reform." 

AT  NEW  YOKK. 

New  York,  June  28.  —  The  nomination  of  Tilden 
was  well  received  by  the  Democrats.  The  so-called 
aristocratic  members  of  the  Democratic  party  here 
have  for  a  long  time  been  disgusted  with  John  Kelley's 
iron  rule,  and  it  is  considered  that  Tilden's  nomination 


258  WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE  NOMINATIONS. 

is  his  (Kelley's)  funeral.  It  is  predicted,  that  he 
(Kelley)  will  be  forced  to  resign  his  leadership,  and 
that  Tammany  Hall  will  commence  the  campaign  under 
a  new  leader.  The  question  of  Tilden's  election  is  seri 
ously  discussed  by  politicians  on  both  sides  ;  but  the 
drift  of  their  sentiment  is,  that,  if  the  Republicans  put 
up  their  best  man  for  Governor,  "  Uncle  Sammy " 
cannot  carry  this  State. 

A  hundred  guns  were  fired  in  Madison  Square,  and 
several  thousand  persons  were  present.  The  German 
element  indorsed  the  nomination  by  a  salute  of  a 
hundred  guns  in  Tomkins  Square. 

[The  New  York  Times.] 

New  York,  June  28.  —  "  The  Times  "  says,  "  The 
Democrats  have  no  cause  to  find  fault  with  the  nomina 
tion  of  Tilden."  It  considers  his  defeat  inevitable, 
but  there  should  be  no  belittling  of  his  strength  in 
New  York.  His  candidacy  forces  upon  us  a  campaign 
of  hard,  earnest,  and  systematic  work.  "The  Times,"  in 
another  article,  says,  "  The  platform  must  be  regarded 
as  a  clear,  unqualified  declaration  for  the  repudiation  of 
the  resumption  pledge." 

[The  New  York  Sun.] 

New  York,  June  28.  —  "  The  Sun  "  is  grateful  for  the 
nomination,  because  it  is  in  the  interest  of  the  country. 
It  is  as  a  reformer  that  Mr.  Tilden  is  selected  to  lead 
the  opposition  in  this  Centennial  year.  Such  a  nomi 
nation  cannot  fail  to  excite  in  every  part  of  the  coun 
try  a  most  hearty  and  hopeful  enthusiasm.  We  admit 
no  doubts  of  its  success. 


WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE  NOMINATIONS.  259 

[The  Chicago  Tribune.] 

Chicago,  June  28.  —  Of  Tilden's  nomination  "  The 
Tribune  "  says,  "  The  nomination  was  by  such  an  over 
whelming  majority  that  it  leaves  no  doubt  that  the 
Convention  deemed  him  the  only  man  having  a  possible 
chance  of  success.  The  nomination  is  a  warning  of 
the  desperate  struggle  that  is  to  be  made. 

[The  New-Yorker  Staats-Zeitung.] 

New  York,  June  28. — "  The  Staats-Zeitung  "  is  en 
tirely  satisfied  with  the  platform  and  nomination,  and 
will  support  Tilden  cordially. 

IN  OTHEE,  PLACES. 

"  The  Evansville  Courier  "  rejects  Tilden,  and  calls 
for  a  greenback  ticket,  with  William  Allen  at  its  head. 

[The  Indianapolis  Sentinel.] 

"The  Indianapolis  Sentinel"  awaits  the  final  result 
of  the  Convention  before  defining  its  position. 

[The  Nashville  American.] 

"  The  Nashville  American "  regrets  the  defeat  of 
Hendricks,  and  supports  Tilden. 

THE  ENTHUSIASM  AT   CONCOKD,   N.H. 

Concord,  N.H.,  June  28.  —  The  nomination  of  Gov. 
Tilden  at  St.  Louis  sent  a  thrill  of  enthusiasm  through 
every  Democratic  heart  in  this  city  to-night,  on  the 
reception  of  the  news,  confirmed  by  the  "  Post  "  bulle 
tins.  Cheers  filled  the  air,  and  in  a  few  moments  the 


260  WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE   NOMINATIONS. 

city  was  alive  with  excitement.  Guns  were  fired, 
bombs  and  rockets,  and  every  description  of  celebration, 
quickly  followed,  and  a  perfect  rush  of  enthusiastic 
men  filled  the  streets.  In  the  House  of  Representatives, 
the  announcement  was  made  by  Mr.  Hatch,  in  the 
midst  of  a  spirited  debate  ;  and  business  was  for  a 
moment  suspended,  as  applause,  wild  and  tumultuous, 
filled  the  hall.  The  most  prominent  Democrats  were 
interviewed  by  the  "  Post "  reporter,  and  not  one  was 
found  who  was  not  thoroughly  in  unison  with  the  action 
of  the  Convention.  Every  one  said,  "  It  is  a  winning 
ticket."  Such  a  marked  difference  between  the  over 
whelming  reception  of  to-night's  news  and  that  of  the 
nomination  of  Hayes  and  Wheeler  was  so  apparent, 
that  even  Republicans  paled  at  the  contrast,  and  were 
obliged  to  admit  that  the  spontaneous  action  to-night 
was  a  more  perfect  and  satisfactory  ratification  than 
any  other  that  could  be  given,  and  more  to  be  sought 
than  the  drummed-up  and  cold  meetings  they  held 
several  days  after  the  Convention.  No  such  feeling 
has  been  manifested  here  since  the  days  when  Frank 
Pierce  led  the  Democrats  to  victory. 

REJOICINGS   AT   BIDDEFORD,   ME. 

Biddcford,  Me.,  June  28.— A  Tilden  flag  was  flung 
to  the  breeze  in  this  city  at  11  o'clock  this  evening. 
Bands  and  processions  paraded  the  streets  amidst  the 
wildest  enthusiasm.  Many  Republicans  admit  that  the 
ticket  will  win,  and  the  Democrats  are  confident  of 
victory  next  November. 


WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE   NOMINATIONS.  261 

UNQUALIFIED   APPROVAL   OF   THE   PEOPLE   AT 
NASHUA,  N.H. 

Nashua,  N.H.,  June  28.  —  The  news  of  the  nomi 
nation  of  Tilden  was  received  with  great  enthusiasm 
by  the  Democrats  of  this  city  this  evening.  Large 
numbers  of  them  kept  up  the  feeling  till  a  late  hour. 
The  choice  of  the  Convention  receives  the  unqualified 
approval  of  all. 

DEMONSTRATIONS   OF   JOY  AT   MANCHESTER,   N.H. 

Manchester,  N.H.,  June  27.  —  The  announcement,  at 
10,  P.M.,  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden's  nomination  by  the  St. 
Louis  Convention  was  received  with  three  hearty  cheers 
by  the  large  number  of  Democrats  in  attendance  at  the 
telegraph  office. 

A   SALUTE  FIRED   AT   RUTLAND,   VT. 

Rutland,  Vt.,  June  28.  —  The  Democrats  of  Rutland 
fired  a  salute  this  evening,  in  honor  of  the  nomination 
of  Tilden. 

THE   GREAT   WORK   OF    REFORM  BEGUN    IN    NEW 
YORK. 

The  Eighteenth  Ward,  and,  indeed,  the  entire  Six 
teenth  Assembly  District,  in  which  is  the  home  of  Gov. 
Tilden,  were  ablaze  last  evening ;  and  more  than  two 
thousand  persons  gathered  in  Academy  Hall  and  on  the 
sidewalk  to  participate  in  a  great  ratification  meeting, 


262  WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE  NOMINATIONS. 

and  the  unfurling  of  a  magnificent  Tilden  and  Reform 
banner.  Hundreds  of  rockets  buzzed  through  the  air, 
blue  and  red  and1  white  tinted  lanterns  illuminated  the 
street,  and  for  many  blocks  in  all  directions  a  multitude 
traversed  the  pavements,  and  shouted  for  Tilden  and 
Hendricks.  A  large  outdoor  stand  had  been  erected  in 
front  of  Academy  Hall,  and  around  its  sides  were 
wreathed  the  folds  of  the  American  flag.  In  Academy 
Hall  eloquent  speeches  were  delivered  by  Judge  Spen 
cer,  James  Daly,  Senator  Gross,  Major  Ilaggerty,  the 
Hon.  James  E.  Morrison,  the  Hon.  Thomas  Cooper 
Campbell,  Mr.  James  Fitzgerald,  and  others.  Mr. 
Campbell  and  Major  Haggerty  spoke  in  ringing  words 
of  the  corruption  and  worthlessness  of  the  Republican 
party,  and  their  speeches  were  received  with  repeated 
cheers.  A  large  and  very  handsome  picture  of  Gov. 
Tilden  was  swung  at  the  back  of  the  platform.  A 
hopeful  letter  was  received  from  the  Hon.  Abram  S. 
Hewitt. 

New  York,  July  11.  —  The  Democratic  Announce 
ment  Committee,  consisting  of  one  member  from  each 
State  in  the  Union,  met  to-day  in  secret  session  in  the 
Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  to  arrange  for  the  notification  of 
Gov.  Tilden  of  his  nomination  by  the  Democratic  Con 
vention  at  St.  Louis;  Gen.  McClernand  presided,  and 
a  quorum  of  the  Committee  was  present.  The  commit 
tee  decided  to  proceed  to  Albany  in  a  bod}^,  and  notify 
Mr.  Tilden  of  his  nomination.  A  suitable  address  was 


WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE  NOMINATIONS.  263 

drawn  up,  to  be  delivered  by  the  chairman  of  the  com 
mittee  to-morrow  in  Albany.  The  committee  also 
decided  to  notify  Mr.  Hendricks ;  and  a  sub-committee, 
consisting  chiefly  of  Western  men,  was  appointed  to 
call  on  the  candidate  for  Vice-President,  and  notify  him 
of  his  nomination. 

A  long  discussion  ensued  between  the  members  of 
the  committee,  on  the  question  of  whether  they  should 
go  to  Albany  to  wait  on  Gov.  Tilden,  or  await  his 
arrival  here.  Finally  a  telegram  was  sent  to  the  Gover 
nor,  notifying  him  of  the  committee  being  in  session, 
and  stating  that  his  presence  was  desirable ;  to  which 
he  replied  he  would  be  pleased  to  meet  the  committee 
at  his  home  in  Grammercy  Park  at  nine  this  evening. 

AT  THE  GOVERNOR'S  RESIDENCE. 

The  committee  waited  on  the  Governor  at  the  time 
appointed.  Delegates  from  nearly  every  State  in  the 
Union  were  present.  The  Governor  gave  the  commit 
tee  a  cordial  greeting.  Gen.  McClernand  addressed 
the  Governor,  and  outlined  the  work  of  the  St.  Louis 
Convention.  It  was  august  in  character,  patriotic  in 
sentiment,  and  met  at  a  time  when  civil  authority  was 
exposed  to  fresh  encroachment  from  the  military ;  when 
hard  money  was  dishonored,  and  virtually  banished  from 
circulation  by  vicious  legislation  ;  when  peculation  and 
corruption  were  sapping  the  foundations  of  the  govern 
ment.  The  Convention  determined  to  save  the  country, 
and  chose  for  its  standard-bearers,  tried,  true,  and 
trusted  men. 


264  WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE  NOMINATIONS. 

Gen.  McClernand  then  read  the  address  of  the  com 
mittee  conveying  the  official  information  of  his  nomina 
tion  to  Gov.  Tilden.  It  stated  that  he  was  nominated 
because  his  name  was  prominently  identified  wit  i 
reform,  reduction  of  taxation,  and  the  maintenance  o ? 
the  rights  of  the  laboring  masses  ;  and  his  record  is  on 3 
of  untarnished  purity  in  the  eyes  of  his  countrymen. 

A    REPRESENTATIVE    INDIANIAN    SPEAKS    HIS     SENTJ- 

MENTS. 

Hon.  Bayless  W.  Hana  of  Indiana,  in  addressing 
Gov.  Tilden,  alluded  briefly  to  the  struggle  of  that 
State  to  secure  the  first  place  on  the  National  ticket  for 
her  favorite  son,  whom  he  eulogized  in  fitting  terms, 
and  then  said,  — 

"  But,  sir,  when  the  Democratic  party,  speaking 
through  its  delegates  assembled  in  the  National  Con 
vention,  in  its  faultless  wisdom,  and  with  a  unanimity 
and  determination  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the 
Democratic  Conventions,  elected  to  commit,  if  possible, 
this  precious  charge  to  the  hands  of  another,  Indiana 
responded  "  Amen."  And  to-day  her  people,  not  only 
with  great  cheerfulness,  but  with  great  enthusiasm,  all 
say  amen  to  the  nomination  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  the 
acknowledged  chief  among  chieftains  of  the  devoted 
reformers  who  have  battled  for  the  overthrow  of  rings 
and  conspiracies,  in  office  and  out  of  office,  for  the 
restitution  of  honest  and  economical  government  every 
where.  Indiana,  sir,  gladly  and  joyfully  accepts  the 


WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE   NOMINATIONS.  265 

situation.  In  the  nomination  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden  and 
Thomas  A.  Hendricks  she  beholds  again  the  complete 
unification  of  the  Democratic  party,  re-established  upon 
those  sound  and  abiding  principles  which  gave  it  so 
much  strength  and  renown  in  the  golden  days  of  its 
ancient  ascendency.  They  feel  that  reason,  justice,  and 
economy  are  to  be  once  more  re-instated  throughout  the 
land,  and  that  madness,  cruelty,  and  prodigality  must 
be  swept  away. 

New  York,  June  12.  —  The  following  is  a  full  report 
of  the  remarks  of  Gov.  Tilden  to  the  Democratic  Com 
mittee  of  Notification :  — 

GEN.  McCLERNAND  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  COM- 

MITTEE,  —  I  shall  at  the  earliest  convenience  prepare 
and  transmit  to  you  a  formal  acceptance  of  the  nomina 
tion  which  you  now  tender  to  me  in  behalf  of  the 
Democratic  National  Convention,  and  I  do  not  desire 
on  this  occasion  to  anticipate  any  topic  which  might  be 
appropriate  to  that  communication.  It  may,  however, 
be  permitted  to  me  to  say  that  my  nomination  was  not 
a  mere  personal  preference  between  citizens  and  states 
men  of  this  Republic,  who  might  very  well  have  been 
chosen  for  so  distinguished  an  honor,  and  for  so  august 
a  duty.  It  was  rather  a  declaration  of  that  illustrious 
body,  in  whose  behalf  you  speak,  in  favor  of  adminis 
trative  reform,  with  which  events  had -associated  me  in 
the  public  mind.  The  strength,  the  universality,  and 
the  efficiency  of  the  demand  for  administrative  reform 


266  WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE   NOMINATIONS. 

in  all  governments,  and  especially  in  the  administration 
of  the  Federal  government,  with  which  the  Democratic 
masses  everywhere  were  instinct,  have  led  to  a  series  of 
surprises  in  the  popular  assemblages,  and  perhaps  in  the 
Convention  itself.  It  would  be  unnatural,  gentlemen, 
if  a  popular  movement  so  genuine  and  so  powerful 
should  stop  with  three  and  one-half  millions  of  Demo 
crats  ;  that  it  should  not  extend  by  contagion  to  that 
large  mass  of  independent  voters  who  stand  between 
parties  in  our  country,  and  to  a  portion  of  the  party 
under  whose  administration  the  evils  to  be  corrected 
have  grown  up.  And  perhaps  in  what  we  have  wit 
nessed  there  may  be  an  augury  in  respect  to  what  we 
may  witness  in  the  election  about  to  take  place  through 
out  our  country ;  at  least,  let  us  hope  so  and  believe  so. 
I  am  not  without  experience  of  the  difficulty  and  the 
labor  of  effecting  administrative  reform  when  it  requires 
a  revolution  in  policies  and  in  measures  long  established 
in  government.  If  I  were  to  judge  by  the  year  and  a 
half  in  which  I  have  been  in  the  State  government,  I 
should  say  that  the  routine  duties  of  the  trust  I  have 
had  imposed  on  me  are  a  small  burden  compared  with 
that  created  by  the  attempt  to  change  the  policy  of  the 
government  of  which  I  have  been  the  executive  head. 
Especially  is  this  so  where  the  reform  is  to  be  worked 
out  with  more  or  less  of  the  co-operation  of  public  offi 
cers,  who  either  have  been  tainted  with  the  evils  to  be 
redressed,  or  who  have  been  incapacitated  by  habit  or 
toleration  of  the  wrongs  to  be  corrected,  to  which  they 


WHAT   FOLLOWED  THE  NOMINATIONS.  267 

have  been  consenting  witnesses.  I,  therefore,  if  your 
choice  should  be  ratified  by  the  people  at  the  election^ 
should  enter  upon  the  great  duties  which  would  fall 
upon  me,  not  as  a  holiday  recreation,  but  very  much  in 
that  spirit  of  consecration  in  which  the  soldier  enters 
battle.  But  let  us  believe,  as  I  do  believe,  that  we  now 
see  the  dawn  of  a  better  day  for  our  country,  and  that 
difficult  as  is  the  work  to  which  the  Democratic  party, 
with  many  of  the  allies  and  former  members  of  other 
parties,  has  addressed  itself,  the  Republic  is  yet  to  be 
renovated  to  live  in  all  the  future,  and  to  be  transmitted 
to  future  generations  as  Jefferson  contributed  to  form  it 
in  his  day,  and  in  which  it  has  been  ever  since,  until  a 
recent  period,  a  blessing  to  the  whole  people.  Gentle 
men,  I  thank  you  for  the  very  kind  terms  in  which  you 
have  made  your  communication,  and  I  extend  to  you 
collectively  and  individually  a  most  cordial  greeting. 

AN  ABLE  SPEECH  BY  SENATOR   BAYAKD. 

At  the  grand  ratification  in  Philadelphia,  Senator 
Bayard  of  Delaware  was  introduced,  and  received  with 
long  and  continued  cheering.  He  expressed  his  satis 
faction  at  finding,  in  such  weather,  so  large  a  gathering 
of  devoted  Democrats  met  to  discuss  the  interests  of 
the  people.  He  hoped  they  would  understand  that 
the  fate  of  the  people  was  in  the  hands  of  the  people ; 
that  there  is  no  abuse  they  cannot  end,  and  no  reform 
accomplished,  unless  they  demand  it.  If  this  Govern 
ment  is  to  go  down,  it  will  be  either  from  the  indiffer- 


268  WHAT  FOLLOWED  THE  NOMINATIONS. 

ence  or  the  ignorance  of  the  people,  or  because  they 
lack  the  courage  to  stand  up  for  their  rights.  In 
Europe  a  dynasty  may  be  overthrown,  and  the  country 
go  on.  Here,  however,  if  the  principles  of  freedom, 
which  enable  us  to  enact  our  wishes  into  law,  fall,  that 
fall  will  be  by  the  hands  of  the  people  who  should  have 
sustained  them;  and  it  must  be  remembered,  that, 
while  we  have  great  liberties,  there  accompany  them 
the  gravest  responsibilities.  There  will  be  a  chance, 
this  fall,  for  the  people  to  change  the  administration  of 
affairs,  if  they  so  will  it.  Until  then,  it  is  the  mission 
of  the  Democracy  to  lay  before  the  people  facts  con 
cerning  the  two  great  parties  to  be  considered  in  con 
nection  with  the  election.  Is  business  in  this  great 
city  prosperous  ?  Have  mechanics  work  ?  Are  capi 
talists  willing  to  lend  their  money  ?  Do  the  mills  teem 
with  industry  ?  Do  the  forges  resound  with  the  voice 
of  the  hammer?  The  knowledge  and  hearts  of  the 
people  must  answer  this.  If  they  are  satisfied,  then 
the  party  in  power  should  reap  the  benefit.  But  he 
could  only  see  the  greatest  cause  of  apprehension  for 
mechanic  and  capitalist.  Taxes  increase  on  the  capi 
talist,  and  his  rents  decrease.  He  fears  if  he  lends, 
that  his  money  will  return  decreased  in  value,  if  re 
turned  at  all.  Everywhere  was  public  debt,  and  private 
debt  seems  like  a  terrible  ocean  which  has  covered  the 
land  with  mortgage.  All  this  was  a  matter  for  Demo 
crats  and  Republicans  alike  to  consider.  He  denounced 
the  Republican  party  for  having  governed  on  promises 


WHAT   FOLLOWED   THE  NOMINATIONS.  269 

of  economy,  reform,  and  reconciliation  that  have  not 
been  performed.  He  did  not  believe  that  people  wanted 
four  years  more  of  a  departure  from  specie  basis  and 
resumption.  When  Gen.  Grant  became  President, 
it  was  promised  that  bonds  and  notes  would  speedily 
be  paid  in  gold,  and  yet  to-day  we  are  farther  off  from 
this  than  ever.  The  laboring  man  does  not  get  what 
he  should  for  what  he  gives,  value  for  value ;  and  the 
workingman  should  never  rest  until  a  system  of  gov 
ernment  is  inaugurated  that  will  accomplish  this.  It  is 
absurd  to  believe  that  a  government  or  a  people  can  get 
rich  by  printing  its  own  notes. 

RECONCILIATION. 

Reconciliation  is  a  dear  thing  to  the  American  peo 
ple.  This  was  promised.  Like  a  leg  badly  set,  that 
needs  to  be  broken  again  to  be  set  right,  the  Republi 
cans  had  broken  the  fifteen  Southern  States.  The  man 
who  had  the  effrontery,  in  order  to  catch  votes,  to  say, 
"  Let  us  have  peace,"  had  done  every  thing  that  could 
distress,  annoy,  and  calumniate  the  Southern  States, 
in  order  to  tear  the  American  people  farther  apart. 
The  tariff  laws  were  unfair  and  ill-advised,  and  were 
crippling  the  country ;  and  under  all  laid  a  system,  a 
corner-stone  of  general  official  dishonesty,  which  robs 
the  Treasury  of  one-half  of  what  honest  toil  contrib 
utes.  The  corruption  of  the  last  eight  years  is 
terrific.  Where  is  the  voluntary  punishment  of  fraud 
by  the  President  ?  and  where  is  any  Republican,  who 


270  WHAT  FOLLOWED  THE  NOMINATIONS. 

has  unearthed  fraud,  who  has  retained  his  place  and 
power  in  the  party  ?  Only  during  the  present  session 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  has  light  been  let  in  ; 

* 

and  where,  in  either  House,  was  there  a  Republican 
who  had  not  opposed  when  the  ploughshare  of  investi 
gation  turned  up  fraud?  When  Heister  Clymer 
exposed  the  fraud  of  the  War  Department,  one  would 
have  been  in  doubt,  to  read  the  Republican  newspapers, 
which  was  the  rogue,  Clymer  or  Belknap.  Under  all 
this  arraignment,  if  the  American  people  again  put 
this  party  in  power,  God  help  the  people  that  have 
failed  to  distinguish  between  honesty  and  dishonesty, 
and  forgotten  the  prayers  learned  at  the  knees  of 
their  mothers.  The  Republican  majority  in  the  Senate 
is  responsible  for  the  corrupt  and  obnoxious  appoint 
ments  of  the  President.  The  speaker  demanded 
whether  Hayes  and  Wheeler  will  make  the  needed 
reform.  What  influences  nominated  them  ?  Personally 
they  are  respectable  third-rate  men.  Would  they  not 
be  governed  by  the  influences  that  nominated  them  ? 
Both  men  are  obscure  and  of  no  weight ;  and  it  is  very 
doubtful  whether,  if  they  wished,  they  could  inaugurate 
reform.  How  little  was  known  of  them  he  had  seen  at 
a  Republican  meeting  in  Jackson,  Miss.,  composed 
nineteen-twentieths  of  negroes,  where  cheers  were 
given  for  "  Wheeler  and  Wilson."  Criticising  the 
action  of  the  Cincinnati  Convention,  the  speaker  asked 
whether  Sherman  and  Cameron,  who  made  the  nomina 
tions,  could  be  called  honest  reformers. 


WHAT   FOLLOWED  THE  NOMINATIONS.  271 

THE  POST  OFFICE  DEPARTMENT 

has  been  turned  over  to  the  unscrupulous  Morton,  and 
all  know  what  this  means.  The  candidates  of  a  party 
cannot  rise  above  their  party;  and,  if  Hayes  and 
Wheeler  are  elected,  they  will  do  precisely  as  Grant 
and  Wilson.  Tilden  and  Hendricks  are  known  as  hon 
est  Governors  and  profound  Statesmen.  By  his  reform 
measures  in  the  administration  as  Governor  of  New 
York,  Tilden  has  gained  the  confidence  of  the  people  ; 
and  there  was  no  spot  on  the  character  of  Hendricks 
in  any  part  of  his  career.  As  Vice-President  he  will  be 
capable  and  dignified,  and  if  Tilden  should  die  his 
place  will  be  worthily  filled.  In  these  nominations  the 
Democracy  have  economy,  ability^  and  statesmanship, 
against  incompetency  and  insignificance. 

Speaking  of  the  prospects  of  the  Democrats  carrying 
Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Bayard  said  that  Philadelphia  un 
doubtedly  contains  a  large  Democratic  majority,  which 
is  always  counted  out.  He  urged  the  Democrats  to 
detect  the  scoundrels,  and,  if  necessary,  to  hang  them. 
The  State  is  counted  Republican  because  there  is  a 
corrupt  system  of  scoundrelism  in  Philadelphia  that 
always  overcomes  the  Democratic  majority  in  the  State. 
He  called  on  the  people  to  amend  this.  All  that  is 
needed  is  to  cast  the  vote,  and  keep  an  eye  on  those 
who  count  the  votes,  and  this  great  State  will  without 
doubt  be  carried  by  Tilden  and  Hendricks. 


272  WHAT  FOLLOWED  THE  NOMINATIONS. 

DELEGATES    BETURNING     FKOM     ST.     LOUIS     CALL     ON 
GOV.    HENDKICKS. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.,  June  30. 

Several  of  the  New  York  delegates,  returning  from 
St.  Louis,  remained  over  one  train  this  evening,  to  call 
upon  Gov.  Hendricks,  who  met  them  at  the  Occidental 
Hotel,  where  the  party  were  serenaded.  Augustus 
Schell,  John  Kelly,  William  Roberts,  W.  H.  Quincy, 
and  others,  addressed  the  audience  from  the  balcony  of 
the  hotel,  pledging  hearty  support  to  the  ticket,  and 
exhorting  the  Democracy  of  Indiana  to  renewed  efforts 
for  victory  at  the  coming  election.  After  these  gentle 
men  had  spoken,  loud  and  persistent  calls  were  made 
for  Gov.  Hendricks,  who  appeared  on  the  balcony,  and 
was  received  with  the  most  vociferous  and  protracted 
cheering.  Quiet  being  restored,  he  said,  — 

EEMAEKS   OF   GOV.   HENDKICKS. 

MY  FELLOW  CITIZENS, — It  is  impossible  for  me  to 
make  an  address  to  you  this  evening.  I  am  here  to  pay 
my  respects  to  the  distinguished  citizens  from  other 
States,  who  are  on  their  way  home  from  one  of  the  great 
est  political  conventions  that  ever  held  a  session  in  this 
country.  These  distinguished  men  sympathize  with  us 
in  the  interest  which  we  intend  to  protect  by  the 
change  which  is  to  take  place  at  the  coming  election. 
I  believe  at  the  next  election  that  the  people  are  going 
to  express  what  is  written  in  the  platform  adopted  at 


WHAT   FOLLOWED  THE  NOMINATIONS.  273 

St.  Louis,  and  what  is  written  in  the  history  of  the  dis 
tinguished  man  that  leads  the  ticket,  and  what  is 
thorough  reform  in  public  service.  There  is  but  one 
other  thought  that  I  will  express  to  you.  That  the 
platform  adopted  at  St.  Louis  declared  that  the 
resumption  clause  of  the  act  adopted  in  1875  shall  be 
repealed ;  and  the  repeal  of  that  clause  carries  with  it 
every  feature  of  the  law  which  is  bringing  about  the 
contraction  so  hurtful  to  the  interests  of  the  country. 

I  thank  you  for  the  compliment  which  you  have  paid 
me  by  this  call.  I  repeat,  I  cannot  undertake  to  make 
you  an  address.  It  is  my  duty  to  pay  my  attention 
and  respects  to  the  gentlemen  who  have  addressed  you. 
Again  I  thank  you,  gentlemen. 

After  dining  with  the  Governor,  the  party  left  in 
their  special  car  for  the  East. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
ME.  TILDEN'S  AND  MB.  HENDRICKS'S  LETTERS  OF 

ACCEPTANCE. 

Gov.  Tilden  indorses  the  St.  Louis  Platform.— Reform  in  Public 
Expense.  —  How  to  accomplish  it.  —  The  Condition  of  the  South.  — 
How  to  improve  ifc.  — Currency  Reform.  —  Bank-note  Resumption. 
—  Legal-tender  Resumption.  — Necessary  Currency.  — Proper  Time 
of  Resumption.  —  Preparation  for  it.  —  Plan  for  Resumption.  — 
Relief  to  Business  Men.  —  Civil-Service  Reform.  —  What  he  pur 
poses  to  do  if  elected  to  the  Presidency. 

New  York,  Aug.  4. ' —  Gov.  Tilden's  letter,  accepting 
the  Democratic  nomination  for  President,  is  as  follows : — 

ALBANY,  N.Y.,  July  31,  1876. 

GENTLEMEN,  —  When  I  had  the  honor  to  receive  a 
personal  delivery  of  your  letter,  on  behalf  of  the  Demo 
cratic  National  Convention  held  011  the  28th  of  June  at 
St.  Louis,  advising  me  of  my  nomination  as  the  candi 
date  of  the  constituency  represented  by  that  body,  for  the 
office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  I  answered  that 
at  my  earliest  convenience,  and  in  conformity  with  usage, 
I  would  prepare  and  transmit  to  you  a  formal  acceptance. 
I  now  avail  myself  of  the  first  interval  in  unavoidable 
occupations  to  fulfil  that  engagement.  The  Convention, 

274 


MR.   TILDEN'S  LETTER   OF  ACCEPTANCE.          27f 

before  making  its  nominations,  adopted  a  declaration 
of  principles,  which,  as  a  whole,  seems  to  me  a  wise 
exposition  of  the  necessities  of  our  country,  and  of  the 
reforms  needed  to  bring  back  the  government  to  its 
true  functions,  restore  purity  of  administration,  and  to 
renew  the  prosperity  of  the  people ;  but  some  of  these 
reforms  are  so  urgent,  that  they  claim  more  than  a  pass 
ing  approval. 

REFORM  IN  THE  PUBLIC   EXPENSE. 

The  necessity  of  a  reform  in  the  scale  of  publi c  expense, 
—  Federal,  State  and  municipal,  —  and  in  the  modes 
of  Federal  taxation,  justifies  all  the  prominence  given  to 
it  in  the  declaration  of  the  St.  Louis  Convention.  The 
present  depression  in  all  the  business  and  industries  of 
the  people,  which  is  depriving  labor  of  its  empk^ments, 
and  carrying  want  into  so  many  homes,  has  its  princi 
pal  cause  in  excessive  governmental  consumption. 
Under  the  illusions  of  a  specious  prosperity,  engendered 
by  the  false  policies  of  the  Federal  government,  a  waste 
of  capital  has  been  going  on  ever  since  the  peace  of 
1865,  which  could  only  end  in  universal  disaster.  The 
Federal  taxes  of  the  last  eleven  years  reach  the  gigantic 
sum  of  $4,500,000,000.  Local  taxation  has  amounted 
to  two-thirds  as  much  more.  The  vast  aggregate  is  not 
less  than  17,500,000,000.  This  enormous  taxation 
followed  a  civil  conflict  that  had  greatly  impaired  oui 
aggregate  wealth,  and  had  made  a  prompt  reduction  of 
expenses  indispensable.  It  was  aggravated  by  the  mosi 


276       MR.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

unscientific  and  ill-adjusted  methods  of  taxation,  that 
increased  the  sacrifices  of  the  people  far  beyond  the 
receipts  of  the  treasury.  It  was  aggravated,  moreover, 
by  a  financial  policy  which  tended  to  diminish  the 
energy,  skill,  and  economy  of  production  and  the 
frugality  of  private  consumption,  and  induced  miscal 
culation  in  business  and  an  unremunerative  use  of 
capital  and  labor.  Even  in  prosperous  times,  the  daily 
wants  of  industrious  communities  press  closely  upon 
their  daily  earnings.  The  margin  of  possible  national 
savings  is  at  least  a  small  percentage  of  national  earn 
ings.  Yet  now  for  these  eleven  years  governmental 
consumption  has  been  a  larger  portion  of  the  national 
earnings  than  the  whole  people  can  possibly  save,  even 
in  prosperous  times,  for  all  new  investments.  The 
consequences  of  these  errors  are  now  a  present  public 
calamity.  But  they  never  were  doubtful,  never  invisi 
ble.  They  were  necessary  and  inevitable,  and  were 
foreseen  and  depicted  when  the  waves  of  that  fictitious 
prosperity  ran  highest.  In  a  speech  made  by  me  on  the 
24th  of  September,  1869,  it  was  said  of  these  taxes, 
"  They  bear  heavily  upon  every  man's  income,  upon 
every  industry  and  every  business  in  the  country ;  and 
year  by  year  they  are  destined  to  press  still  more 
heavily,  unless  we  arrest  the  system  that  gives  rise  to 
them.  It  was  comparatively  easy,  when  values  were 
doubling,  under  repeated  issues  of  legal-tender  paper 
money,  to  pay  out  of  our  growing  and  apparent  wealth 
these  taxes ;  but  when  values  recede,  and  sink  toward 


ME.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.       277 

their  natural  scale,  the  tax-gatherers  take  from  us  not 
only  our  income,  not  only  our  profits,  but  also  a  portion 
of  our  capital.  I  do  not  wish  to  exaggerate  or  alarm. 
I  simply  say  that  we  cannot  afford  the  costly  and  ruin 
ous  policy  of  the  radical  majority  in  Congress.  We 
cannot  afford  that  policy  towards  the  South.  We  can 
not  afford  the  magnificent  and  oppressive  centralism 
into  which  our  government  is  being  converted.  We 
cannot  afford  the  present  magnificent  scale  of  taxa 
tion."  To  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasuiy  I  said,  early 
in  1860,  there  is  no  royal  road  for  a  government  more 
than  for  an  individual  or  a  corporation.  What  you 
want  to  do  now  is  to  cut  down  your  expenses,  and  live 
within  your  income.  I  would  give  all  the  legerde 
main  of  finance  and  financeering,  I  would  give  the 
whole  of  it,  for  the  old  honesty  maxim,  "  Live  within 
your  income."  This  reform  will  be  resisted  at  every 
step,  but  it  must  be  pressed  persistently.  We  see  to 
day  the  immediate  representatives  of  the  people  in  one 
branch  of  Congress,  while  struggling  to  reduce  expen 
ditures,  compelled  to  confront  the  menace  of  the  Senate 
and  the  Executive.  Unless  the  objectionable  appropria 
tions  be  consented  to,  the  operations  of  the  government 
thereunder  shall  suffer  detriment  or  cease.  In  my 
judgment,  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution  ought  to 
be  devised,  separating  into  distinct  bills  the  appropria 
tions  for  the  various  departments  of  the  public  service, 
and  excluding  from  each  bill  all  appropriations  for 
other  objects  and  all  independent  legislation.  In  that 


278       MR.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

way  alone  can  the  revisor}^  power  of  each  of  the  two 
Houses  and  of  the  Executive  be  preserved  and  exempted 
from  the  moral  duress  which  often  compels  assent  to 
objectionable  appropriations  rather  than  stop  the  wheels 
of  the  government. 

THE  SOUTH. 

An  accessory  cause,  enhancing  the  distress  in  busi 
ness,  is  to  be  found  in  the  systematic  and  unsupport- 
able  misgovernment  imposed  on  the  States  of  the 
South.  Besides  the  ordinary  effects  of  an  ignorant  and 
dishonest  administration,  it  has  inflicted  upon  them  an 
enormous  issue  of  fraudulent  bonds,  the  scanty  avails 
of  which  were  wasted  or  stolen,  and  the  existence  of 
which  is  a  public  discredit,  tending  to  bankruptcy  or 
repudiation.  Taxes,  generally  oppressive,  in  some  in 
stances  have  confiscated  the  entire  income  of  property, 
and  totally  destroyed  its  marketable  value.  It  is 
impossible  that  these  evils  should  not  re-act  upon  the 
prosperity  of  the  whole  country.  The  nobler  motives 
of  humanity  concur  with  the  material  interests  of  all, 
in  requiring  that  every  obstacle  be  removed  to  a  com 
plete  and  durable  reconciliation  between  kindred  pop 
ulations  once  unnationally  estranged,  on  the  basis 
recognized  by  the  St.  Louis  platform  of  the  "  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States,  with  its  amendments  uni 
versally  accepted  as  a  final  settlement  of  the  con 
troversies  which  engendered  civil  war."  But  in  aid 
of  a  result  so  beneficent,  the  moral  influence  of  every 


ME.   TILDEX'S   LETTER   OF  ACCEPTANCE.          279 

good  citizen,  as  well  as  every  governmental  authority, 
ought  to  be  exerted,  not  alone  to  maintain  their  just 
equality  before  the  law,  but  likewise  to  establish  a  cor 
dial  fraternity  and  good-will  among  citizens,  whatever 
their  race  or  color,  who  are  now  united  in  the  one 
destiny  of  a  common  self-government.  If  the  duty 
shall  be  assigned  to  me,  I  should  not  fail  to  exercise 
the  powers  with  which  the  laws  and  the  constitution  of 
our  country  clothe  its  chief  magistrate  to  protect  all 
its  citizens,  whatever  their  former  condition,  in  every 
political  and  personal  right. 

CUEEENCY  EEFOEM. 

Reform  is  necessary,  declares  the  St.  Louis  Conven 
tion,  to  establish  a  sound  currency,  restore  the  public 
credit,  and  maintain  the  national  honor ;  and  it  goes 
on  to  demand  a  judicious  system  of  preparation  by 
public  economies,  by  official  retrenchments,  and  by 
wise  finance,  which  shall  enable  the  nation  soon  to 
assure  the  whole  world  of  its  perfect  ability  and  perfect 
readiness  to  meet  any  of  its  promises  at  the  call  of  the 
creditors  entitled  to  payment.  The  object  demanded 
by  the  Convention  is  a  resumption  of  specie  payments 
on  the  legal-tender  notes  of  the  United  States.  That 
would  not  only  restore  the  public  credit  and  maintain 
the  public  honor,  but  it  would  establish  a  sound  curren 
cy  for  the  people.  The  methods  by  which  the  object 
is  to  be  pursued,  and  the  means  by  which  it  is  to  be 
attained,  are  disclosed  by  what  the  Convention  de- 


280       MR.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

manded  for  the  future  and  by  what  it  denounced  in 
the  past. 

BANK-NOTE   RESUMPTION. 

The  resumption  of  specie  payments  by  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,  on  its  legal-tender  notes, 
would  establish  specie  payments  by  all  the  banks  on  all 
their  notes.  The  official  statement  made  on  the  12th 
of  May  shows  that  the  amount  of  bank-notes  was 
$300,000,000,  less  $20,000,000  by  themselves.  Against 
these  $280,000,000  of  notes  the  banks  held  $141,000,000 
of  legal-tender  notes,  or  a  little  more  than  fifty  per  cent 
of  their  amount.  But  they  also  held  on  deposit  in  the 
Federal  treasury,  as  security  for  these  notes,  bonds  of 
the  United  States  worth  in  gold  about  $360,000,000, 
available  and  current  in  all  the  foreign  money  markets. 
In  resuming,  the  banks,  even  if  it  were  possible  for  all 
their  notes  to  be  presented  for  payment,  would  have 
$500,000,000  of  specie  funds  to  pay  $280,000,000  of 
notes,  without  contracting  their  loans  to  their  customers, 
or  calling  on  any  private  debtor  for  payment.  Sus 
pended  banks  undertaking  to  resume  have  usually  been 
obliged  to  collect  from  needy  borrowers  the  means  to 
redeem  excessive  issues  and  to  provide  reserves.  A 
vague  idea  of  distress  is  therefore  often  associated  with 
the  process  of  resumption ;  but  the  conditions  which 
caused  distress  in  those  former  instances  do  not  now 
exist.  The  government  has  only  to  make  good  its  own 
promises,  and  the  banks  can  take  care  of  themselves 
without  distressing  anybod}^.  The  government  is, 
therefore,  the  sole  delinquent. 


MR.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.       281 

LEGAL-TENDER  RESUMPTION. 

The  amount  of  the  legal-tender  notes  of  the  United 
States  now  outstanding  is  less  than  $370,000,000,  be 
sides  $34,000,000  of  fractional  currency.  How  shall  the 
government  make  these  notes  at  all  times  as  good  as 
specie?  It  has  to  provide,  in  reference  to  the  mass 
which  would  be  kept  in  use  by  the  wants  of  business, 
a  central  reservoir  of  coin  adequate  to  the  adjustment 
of  the  temporary  fluctuations  of  international  balances, 
and  as  a  guarantee  against  transient  drains  artificially 
created  by  panic  or  by  speculations.  It  has  also  to 
provide  for  the  payment  in  coin  of  such  fractional 
currency  as  may  be  presented  for  redemption,  and  such 
inconsiderable  portions  of  the  legal-tenders  as  individ 
uals  may,  from  time  to  time,  desire  to  convert  for  special 
use,  or  in  order  to  lay  by  in  coin  their  little  stores  of 
money.  To  make  the  coin  now  in  the  treasury  avail 
able  for  the  objects  of  this  revenue,  to  gradually 
strengthen  and  enlarge  that  revenue,  and  to  provide 
for  such  other  exceptional  demands  for  coin  as  may 
arise,  does  not  seem  to  me  a  work  of  difficulty.  If 
wisely  planned  and  discreetly  pursued,  it  ought  not  to 
cost  any  sacrifice  to  the  business  of  the  country.  It 
should  tend,  on  the  contrary,  to  a  revival  of  hope  and 
confidence.  The  coin  in  the  treasury  on  the  30th  of 
June,  including  what  is  held  against  coin  certificates, 
amounted  to  nearly  $74,000,000.  The  current  of  pre 
cious  metals  which  has  flowed  out  of  our  country  for 


282       MR.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

the  eleven  years  from  July  1,  1865,  to  June  30,  1876, 
averaging  nearly  876,000,000  a  year,  was  $832,000,000, 
in  the  whole  period  of  which  1617,000,000  was  the 
product  of  our  own  mines.  To  amass  the  requisite 
quantity  by  intercepting  from  the  current  flowing  out 
of  the  country,  and  by  acquiring  from  the  stocks 
which  exist  abroad  without  disturbing  the  equilibrium 
of  foreign  money  markets,  is  a  result  to  be  easily 
worked  out  by  practical  knowledge  and  judgment. 
With  respect  to  whatever  surplus  of  legal-tenders 
the  wants  of  business  may  fail  to  keep  in  use,  and 
which,  in  order  to  save  interest,  will  be  returned  for 
redemption,  they  can  either  be  paid,  or  they  can  be 
funded.  Whether  they  continue  as  currency,  or  be 
absorbed  into  the  vast  mass  of  securities  held  as  invest 
ments,  is  merely  a  question  of  the  rate  of  interest  they 
draw.  Even  if  they  were  to  remain  in  their  present 
form,  and  the  government  were  to  agree  to  pay  on  them 
a  rate  of  interest  making  them  desirable  as  investments, 
they  would  cease  to  circulate,  and  take  their  place  with 
government,  State,  municipal,  and  other  corporate  and 
private  bonds,  of  which  thousands  of  millions  exist 
among  us.  In  the  perfect  ease  with  which  they  can 
be  changed  from  currency  into  investments  lies  the 
only  danger  to  be  guarded  against  in  the  adoption  of 
a  general  measure  intended  to  remove  a  clearly  ascer 
tained  surplus ;  that  is,  the  withdrawal  of  any  which 
are  not  a  permanent  excess  beyond  the  wants  of  busi 
ness.  Even  now  mischievous  would  be  any  measure 


MR.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.       283 

which  affects  the  public  imagination  with  the  fear  of 
an  apprehended  scarcity  in  a  community  where  credit 
is  so  much  used.  Fluctuations  of  values  and  vicissi 
tudes  in  business  are  largely  caused  by  the  temporary 
beliefs  of  men,  even  before  those  beliefs  can  conform  to 
ascertained  realities. 

THE  AMOUNT   OF  NECESSARY  CURRENCY 

at  a  given  time  cannot  be  determined  arbitrarily,  and 
should  not  be  assumed  on  conjecture.  That  amount  is 
subject  to  both  permanent  and  temporary  changes. 
An  enlargement  of  it,  which  seemed  to  be  durable, 
happened  at  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war  by  a  sub 
stituted  use  of  currency  in  place  of  individual  credits. 
It  varies  with  certain  states  of  business ;  it  fluctuates 
with  considerable  regularity  at  different  seasons  of  the 
year.  In  autumn,  for  instance,  when  buyers  of  grain 
and  other  agricultural  products  begin  their  operations, 
they  usually  need  to  borrow  capital  or  circulating 
credits  by  which  to  make  their  purchases,  and  want 
these  funds  in  currency,  capable  of  being  distributed 
in  small  sums  among  the  numerous  sellers.  The  addi 
tional  need  of  currency  at  such  times  is  five  or  more 
per  cent  of  the  whole  volume  ;  and  if  a  surplus  beyond 
what  is  required  for  ordinary  use  does  not  happen  to 
have  been  on  hand  at  the  money  centres,  a  scarcity  of 
currency  ensues,  and  also  a  stringency  in  the  loan- 
market.  It  was  in  reference  to  such  experiences,  that, 
in  a  discussion  of  this  subject  in  my  annual  message  to 


the  New  York  Legislature  of  Jan.  5,  1875,  the  sugges 
tion  was  made,  that  the  Federal  Government  is  bound 
to  redeem  every  portion  of  its  issues  which  the  public 
do  not  wish  to  use.  Having  assumed  to  monopolize 
the  supply  of  currency,  and  enacted  exclusions  against 
everybody  else,  it  is  bound  to  furnish  all  which  the 
wants  of  business  require.  .  .  .  The  system  should 
passively  allow  the  volume  of  circulating  credits  to  ebb 
and  flow,  according  to  the  ever  changing  wants  of 
business.  It  should  imitate  as  closely  as  possible  the 
natural  laws  of  trade,  which  it  has  superseded  by  arti 
ficial  contrivances.  And  in  a  similar  discussion,  in  my 
message  of  Jan.  4,  1876,  it  was  said  that  resumption 
should  be  effected  by  such  measures  as  would  keep  the 
aggregate  amount  of  the  currency  self-adjusting  during 
all  the  process,  without  creating  at  any  time  an 
artificial  scarcity,  and  without  exciting  the  public 
imagination  with  alarms,  which  impair  confidence, 
contract  the  whole  large  machinery  of  credit,  and 
disturb  the  natural  operations  of  business.  Means  of 
resumption,  public  economies,  official  retrenchment, 
and  wise  finance  are  the  means  which  the  St.  Louis 
Convention  indicates.  As  a  provision  for  reserves  and 
redemptions,  the  best  resource  is  a  reduction  of  the 
expense  of  the  government  below  its  income ;  for  that 
imposes  no  new  charge  on  the  people.  If,  however, 
the  improvidence  and  waste  which  have  conducted  us 
to  a  period  of  falling  revenues  oblige  us  to  supplement 
the  results  of  economies  and  retrenchments  by  some 


MR.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.       285 

resort  to  loans,  we  should  not  hesitate.  The  govern 
ment  ought  not  to  speculate  on  its  own  dishonor,  in 
order  to  save  interests  on  its  broken  promises,  which 
it  still  compels  private  dealers  to  accept  at  a  fictitious 
par.  The  highest  national  honor  is  not  only  right,  but 
would  prove  profitable.  Of  the  public  debt,  $985,000,- 
000  bear  interest  at  5  per  cent  in  gold,  and  $712,000,- 
000  at  6  per  cent  in  gold.  The  average  interest 
is  5.58  per  cent.  A  financial  policy  which  should 
secure  the  highest  credit  availed  of  ought  gradually 
to  obtain  a  reduction  of  1  per  cent  in  the  interest  on 
most  of  the  loans.  A  saving  of  1  per  cent  on  the 
average  would  be  $17,000,000  a  year  in  gold.  That 
saving,  regularly  invested  at  4J  per  cent,  would,  in 
less  than  thirty-eight  years,  extinguish  the  principal. 
The  whole  $17,000,000  of  the  funded  debt  might  be 
paid  by  this  saving  alone,  without  cost  to  the  people. 

PROPER   TIME  FOR   RESUMPTION. 

The  proper  time  for  resumption  is  the  time  when 
wise  preparations  shall  have  ripened  into  a  perfect 
ability  to  accomplish  the  object  with  a  certainty  and 
ease  that  will  inspire  confidence  and  encourage  the 
reviving  of  business.  The  earliest  time  in  which  such 
a  result  can  be  brought  about  is  the  best.  Even  when 
the  preparations  shall  have  been  matured,  the  exact 
time  would  have  to  be  chosen  with  reference  to  the 
then  existing  state  of  trade  and  credit  operations  in  our 
own  country,  the  course  of  foreign  commerce,  and  the 


286       MR.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

condition  of  the  exchanges  with  other  nations.  The 
specific  measures  and  the  actual  date  are  matters  of 
detail,  having  reference  to  ever-changing  conditions. 
They  belong  to  the  domain  of  practical  administrative 
statesmanship.  The  captain  of  a  steamer  about  starting 
from  New  York  to  Liverpool  does  not  assemble  a  coun 
cil  over  his  ocean-chart,  and  fix  an  angle  by  w^hich  to 
lash  the  rudder  the  whole  of  the  voyage.  A  human 
intelligence  must  be  at  the  helm  to  discern  the  shifting 
forces  of  the  water  and  the  winds.  A  human  hand 
must  be  on  the  helm  to  feel  the  elements  day  by  day, 
arid  guide  to  a  mastery  over  them. 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  RESUMPTION. 

Such  preparations  are  every  thing.  Without  them 
a  legislative  command  fixing  a  day,  an  official  promise 
fixing  a  day,  are  shams.  They  are  worse  :  they  are  a 
snare  and  a  delusion  to  all  who  trust  them.  They 
destroy  all  confidence  among  thoughtful  men,  whose 
judgment  will  at  last  sway  public  opinion.  An  attempt 
to  act  on  such  a  command  or  such  a  promise,  without 
preparation,  would  end  in  a  new  suspension.  It  would 
be  a  fresh  calamity,  prolific  of  confusion,  distrust,  and 
distress.  Txhe  act  of  Congress  of  the  14th  of  January, 
1875,  exacted  that  on  and  after  the  first  of  January, 
1879,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall  redeem  in  coin 
the  legal-tender  notes  of  the  United  States  on  presenta 
tion  at  the  office  of  the  Assistant  Treasurer  in  the  city 
of  New  York.  It  authorized  the  Secretary  to  prepare 


MR.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.       287 

and  provide  for  such  resumption  of  specie  payments,  by 
the  use  of  any  surplus  revenue  not  otherwise  appropri 
ated,  and  by  issuing,  in  his  discretion,  certain  classes 
of  bonds.  More  than  one  and  a  half  of  the  four  years 
have  passed,  and  Congress  and  the  President  have  con 
tinued  ever  since  to  unite  in  acts  which  have  legislated 
out  of  existence  every  possible  surplus  applicable  to 
this  purpose.  The  coin  in  the  treasury,  claimed  to 
belong  to  the  government,  had,  on  the  30th  of  June, 
fallen  to  less  than  $45,000,000,  as  against  859,000,000 
on  the  1st  of  January,  1875 ;  and  the  availability  of  a 
part  of  that  sum  is  said  to  be  questionable.  The  reve 
nues  are  falling  faster  than  the  appropriations  and  the 
expenditures  are  reduced,  leaving  the  treasury  with 
diminishing  resources.  The  Secretary  has  done  nothing 
under  his  power  to  issue  bonds.  The  legislative  •  com- 
nia'nd  and  the  official  promise  fixing  a  day  for  resump 
tion  have  thus  far  been  barren.  No  practical  prepara 
tions  toward  resumption  have  been  made.  There  has 
been  no  progress.  There  have  been  steps  backward. 
There  is  no  necromancy  in  the  operations  of  the 
government.  The  homely  maxims  of  every-day  life 
are  the  best  standards  of  its  conduct.  A  debtor  who 
should  promise  to  pay  a  loan  out  of  his  surplus  income, 
yet  to  be  seen  every  clay  spending  all  he  could  lay  his 
hands  on  in  riotous  living,  would  lose  all  character  for 
honesty  and  veracity.  His  offer  of  a  new  promise,  or 
his  profession  as  to  the  value  of  the  old  promise,  would 
alike  provoke  derision. 


288       MR.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

THE  RESUMPTION  PLAN  OF  THE  ST.  LOUIS  PLATFORM. 

The  St.  Louis  platform  denounces  the  failure  for 
eleven  years  to  make  good  the  promise  of  the  legal- 
tender  notes.  It  denounces  the  omission  to  accumulate 
any  reserve  for  their  redemption.  It  denounces  the 
conduct,  "  which  during  eleven  years  of  peace  has 
made  no  advances  towards  resumption,  no  preparations 
for  resumption ;  but,  instead,  has  obstructed  resumption 
by  wasting  our  resources  and  exhausting  all  our  sur 
plus  income,  and,  while  professing  to  intend  a  speedy 
return  to  specie  payments,  has  annually  enacted  fresh 
hinderances  thereto  ;  "  and,  having  first  denounced  the 
barrenness  of  the  promise  of  a  day  of  resumption,  it 
next  denounces  that  barren  promise  as  a  hinderance  to 
resumption.  It  then  demands  its  repeal,  and  also 
demands  the  establishment  of  a  judicious  system  of 
preparation  for  resumption.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that 
the  substitution  of  a  system  of  preparation  without  the 
promise  of  a  day,  for  the  worthless  promise  of  a  day 
without  a  system  of  preparation,  would  be  the  gain  of 
the  substance  of  resumption  in  exchange  for  its  shadow  ; 
nor  is  the  denunciation  unmerited  of  that  improvidence 
which  in  the  eleven  years  since  the  peace  has  consumed 
forty-five  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  and  yet  could 
not  afford  to  give  the  people  a  sound  and  stable  curren- 
rency.  Two  and  a  half  per  cent  on  the  expenditure  of 
these  eleven  years,  or  even  less,  would  have  provided 
all  the  additional  coin  needful  to  resumption. 


MR.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  or  ACCEPTANCE.       289 

BELIEF   TO   BUSINESS   DISTRESS. 

The  distress  now  felt  by  the  people  in  all  their  busi 
ness  and  industries,  though  it  has  its  principal  cause  in 
the  enormous  waste  of  capital  occasioned  by  the  false 
policies  of  our  government,  has  been  greatly  aggravated 
by  the  mismanagement  of  the  currency.  Uncertainty 
is  the  prolific  parent  of  •  mischief  in  all  business. 
Never  were  its  evils  more  felt  than  now.  *  Men  do  noth 
ing,  because  they  are  unable  to  make  any  calculations 
on  which  they  can  safely  rely.  They  undertake  noth 
ing,  because  they  fear  a  loss  in  every  thing  they  would 
attempt :  they  stop  and  wait.  The  merchant  dares  not 
buy  for  the  future  consumption  of  his  customers ;  the 
manufacturer  dares  not  make  fabrics  which  may  not 
refund  his  outlay  :  he  shuts  his  factory,  and  discharges 
his  workmen.  Capitalists  cannot  lend  on  security  they 
consider  safe,  and  their  funds  lie  almost  without  inter 
est.  Men  of  enterprise,  who  have  credit  or  securities  to 
pledge,  will  not  borrow.  Consumption  has  fallen  be 
low  the  natural  limits  of  a  reasonable  economy.  Prices 
of  many  things  are  under  their  range  in  frugal,  specie- 
paying  times  before  the  war.  Vast  masses  of  currency 
lie  in  the  banks  unused.  A  year  and  a  half  ago,  the 
legal  tenders  were  at  their  largest  volume,  and  the 
twelve  millions  since  retired  have  been  replaced  by 
fresh  issues  of  fifteen  millions  of  bank-notes.  In  the 
meantime,  the  banks  have  been  surrendering  about  fowr 
millions  a  month,  because  they  cannot  find  a  profitable 


290       MR.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

;*  ' 

use  for  so  many  of  their  notes.  The  public  mind  will 
not  longer  accept  shams.  It  has  suffered  enough  from 
illusions.  An  insincere  policy  increases  distrust ;  an 
unstable  policy  increases  uncertainty.  The  people 
need  to  know  that  the  government  is  moving  in  the 
direction  of  ultimate  safety  and  prosperity,  and  that  it 
is  doing  so  through  prudent,  safe,  and  conservative 
methods,  which  will  be  sure  to  inflict  no  new  sacrifice 
on  the  business  of  the  country ;  then  the  inspiration  of 
new  hope  and  well-founded  confidence  will  hasten  the 
restoring  processes  of  nature,  and  prosperity  will  begin 
to  return.  The  St.  Louis  Convention  concludes  its 
expression  in  regard  to  the  currency  by  a  declaration 
of  its  convictions  as  to  the  practical  results  of  the  sys 
tem  of  preparations  it  demands.  It  says,  — 

"  We  believe  such  a  system,  well  devised,  and,  above 
all,  intrusted  to  competent  hands  for  execution,  creating 
at  no  time  an  artificial  scarcity  of  currency,  and  at  no 
time  alarming  the  public  mind  into  a  withdrawal  of 
that  vaster  machinery  of  credit,  by  which  ninety-five 
per  cent  of  all  business  transactions  are  performed,  a 
system  open,  public,  and  inspiring  general  confidence, 
would,  from  the  day  of  its  adoption,  bring  healing  on 
its  wings  to  all  our  harassed  industries ;  set  in  motion 
the  wheels  of  commerce,  manufactures,  and  the  me 
chanic  arts  ;  restore  employment  to  labor ;  and  renew  in 
all  its  natural  sources  the  prosperity  of  the  people." 

The  government  of  the  United  States,  in  my  opinion, 
can  advance  to  a  resumption  of  specie  payments  on  its 


MR.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.       291 

• 

legal-tender  notes  by  gradual  and  safe  processes,  tending 
to  relieve  the  present  business  distress.  If  charged  by 
the  people  with  the  administration  of  the  executive 
office,  I  should  deem  it  a  duty  so  to  exercise  the  powers 
with  which  it  has  been,  or  may  be,  invested  by  Congress, 
as  best  and  soonest  to  conduct  the  country  to  that  bene 
ficent  result. 

CIVIL-SERVICE  REFORM. 

The  Convention  justly  affirms  that  reform  is  necessary 
in  the  civil  service  ;  necessary  to  its  purification  ;  neces 
sary  to  its  economy  and  its  efficiency ;  necessary  in 
order  that  the  ordinary  employment  of  the  public  busi 
ness  may  not  be  a  prize  fought  for  at  the  ballot-box,  a 
brief  reward  of  party  zeal,  instead  of  posts  of  honor, 
assigned  for  proved  competency?  and  held  for  fidelity  in 
the  public  employ.  The  Convention  wisely  added  that 
reform  is  necessary  even  more  in  the  higher  grades  of 
the  public  service.  The  President,  Vice-President, 
judges,  senators,  representatives,  cabinet  officers,  these, 
and  all  others  in  authority,  are  the  people's  servants, 
their  officers.  They  are  not  a  private  perquisite.  They 
are  a  public  trust.  Two  evils  infest  the  official  service 
of  the  Federal  government.  One  is  the  prevalent  and 
demoralizing  notion,  that  the  public  service  exists,  not 
for  the  business  and  benefit  of  the  whole  people,  but 
for  the  interest  of  the  office-holders,  who  are  in  truth 
but  the  servants  of  the  people.  Under  the  influence 
of  this  pernicious  error,  public  employments  have  been 
multiplied,  the  number  of  those  gathered  into  the  ranks 


292       MR.  TILDEN'S  LETTER,  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

of  office-holders  have  been  steadily  increased  beyond 
any  possible  requirements  of  the  public  business,  while 
inefficiency,  peculation,  fraud,  and  malversation  of  the 
public  funds,  from  the  high  places  of  power  to  the 
lowest,  have  overspread  the  whole  service  like  a  leprosy. 
The  other  evil  is  the  organization  of  the  official  class 
into  a  body  of  political  mercenaries,  governing  the 
caucuses  and  dictating  the  nominations  of  their  own 
party,  and  attempting  to  carry  the  elections  of  the 
people  by  undue  influence  and  by  immense  corruption 
funds,  systematically  collected  from  the  salaries  or  fees 
of  office-holders.  The  official  class  in  other  countries, 
sometimes,  by  its  own  weight,  and  sometimes  in  alliance 
with  the  army,  has  been  able  to  rule  the  unorganized 
masses,  even  under  universal  suffrage.  Here  it  has 
already  grown  into  a  gigantic  power,  capable  of  stifling 
the  inspirations  of  a  sound  public  opinion,  and  of 
resisting  an  easy  change  of  administration,  until  mis- 
government  becomes  intolerable,  and  public  spirit  has 
been  stung  to  the  pitch  of  a  civic  revolution.  The 
first  step  in  reform  is  the  elevation  of  the  standard  by 
which  the  appointing  power  selects  agents  to  execute 
official  trusts.  Next  in  importance  is  a  conscientious 
fidelity  in  the  exercise  of  the  authority  to  hold  to 
account  and  displace  untrustworthy  or  incapable  subor 
dinates.  The  public  interest  in  an  honest,  skilful 
performance  of  official  trust  must  not  be  sacrificed  to 
the  personal  interests  of  the  incumbents.  After  these 
immediate  steps,  which  will  insure  the  exhibition  of 


ME.  TILDEN'S  LETTER  or  ACCEPTANCE.       293 

better  examples,  we  may  wisely  go  on  to  the  abolition 
of  unnecessary  offices,  and  finally  to  the  patient,  careful 
organization  of  a  better  civil-service  system,  under  the 
tests,  wherever  practicable,  of  proved  competency  and 
fidelity.  While  much  may  be  accomplished  by  these 
methods,  it  might  encourage  delusive  expectations  if  I 
withheld  here  the  expression  of  my  conviction  that  no 
reform  of  the  civil  service  in  this  country  will  be  com 
plete  and  permanent  until  its  chief  is  constitutionally 
disqualified  for  re-election,  experience  having  repeatedly 
exposed  the  fallacy  of  self-imposed  restrictions  by  can 
didates  or  incumbents.  Through  this  solemnity  only 
can  he  be  effectually  delivered  from  his  greatest  tempta 
tion  to  misuse  the  power  and  patronage  with  which  the 
Executive  is  necessarily  charged. 

POLITICAL  PROMISES. 

Educated  in  the  belief  that  it  is  the  first  duty  of  a 
citizen  of  the  Republic  to  take  Jiis  fair  allotment  of 
the  care  and  trouble  in  public  affairs,  I  have,  for  twenty 
years  as  a  private  citizen,  fulfilled  that  duty.  Though 
occupied  in  an  unusual  degree,  during  all  that  period, 
with  the  concerns  of  government,  I  have  never  acquired 
the  habit  of  official  life.  When  a  year  and  a  half  ago 
I  entered  upon  my  present  trust,  it  was  in  order  to 
consummate  reform,  to  which  I  had  already  devoted 
several  of  the  last  years  of  my  life.  Knowing  as  I  do, 
therefore,  from  fresh  experience,  how  great  the  differ 
ence  is  between  gliding  through  an  official  routine,  and 


294     GOV.   HENDRICKS'S   LETTER   OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

working  out  a  reform  of  systems  and  politics,  it  is 
impossible  for  me  to  contemplate  what  needs  to  be 
done  in  the  Federal  administration  without  an  anxious 
sense  of  the  difficulties  of  the  undertaking.  If  sum 
moned  by  the  suffrages  of  my  countrymen  to  attempt 
this  work,  I  shall  endeavor,  with  God's  help,  to  be  the 
efficient  instrument  of  their  will. 

SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

To  Gen.  JOHN  A.  MCCLERNAND,  Chairman;  Gen.  W.  B.  Franklin, 
Hon.  J.  G  Abbott,  Hon.  II.  J.  Spannhorst,  Hon.  II.  J.  Redfield, 

Hon.  N.  S.  Lyon,  and  others,  committee,  &c. 

GOV.   HENDRICKS'S  LETTER. 

The  following  is  Gov.  Hendricks's  letter  accepting 
the  nomination  for  Vice-President :  — 

INDIANAPOLIS,  July  24,  187G. 

GENTLEMEN,  —  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the 
receipt  of  your  communication,  in  which  you  have  for 
mally  notified  me  of  my  nomination  by  the  National 
Democratic  Convention  at  St.  Louis,  as  their  candidate 
for  the  office  of  Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 
It  is  a  nomination  which  I  had  neither  expected  nor 
desired,  and  yet  I  recognize  and  appreciate  the  high 
honor  done  me  by  the  Convention.  The  choice  of 
such  a  body,  pronounced  with  such  unusual  unanimity, 
and  accompanied  with  so  generous  expression  of  esteem 
and  confidence,  ought  to  outweigh  all  merely  personal 
desires  and  preferences  of  my  own.  It  is  with  this 
feeling,  and,  I  trust  also,  from  a  deep  sense  of  public 


GOV.  HENDHICKS'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.  295 

duty,  that  I  accept  the  nomination,  and  shall  abide  the 
judgment  of  my  countrymen.  It  would  have  been 
impossible  for  me  to  accept  the  nomination  if  I  could 
not  heartily  indorse  the  platform  of  the  Convention. 
I  am  gratified,  therefore,  to  be  able,  unequivocally,  to 
declare  that  I  agree  in  the  principles,  approve  the 
policies,  and  sympathize  with  the  purposes  enunciated 
in  that  platform.  The  institutions  of  our  country  have 
been  secretly  tried  by  the  exigencies  of  civil  war ;  and, 
since  the  peace,  by  a  selfish  and  corrupt  management 
of  public  affairs  which  has  shamed  us  before  civilized 
mankind.  By  unwise  and  partial  legislation,  every 
industry  and  interest  of  the  people  have  been  made  to 
suffer ;  and,  in  the  executive  departments  of  the 
government,  dishonesty,  rapacity,  and  venality  have 
debauched  the  public  service.  Men  known  to  be 
unworthy  have  been  promoted,  whilst  others  have 
been  degraded  for  fidelity  to  official  duty.  Public 
office  has  been  made  the  means  of  private  profit;  and 
the  country  has  been  offended  to  see  a  class  of  men 
who  boast  the  friendship  of  the  sworn  protectors  of 
the  State  amassing  fortunes  by  defrauding  the  public 
treasury,  and  by  corrupting  the  servants  of  the  people. 
In  such  a  crisis  of  the  history  of  the  country,  I  rejoice 
that  the  Convention  at  St.  Louis  has  so  nobly  raised 
the  standard  of  reform.  Nothing  can  be  well  with  us 
or  with  our  affairs  until  the  public  conscience,  shocked 
by  the  enormous  evils  and  abuses  which  prevail,  shall 
have  demanded  and  compelled  an  unsparing  reforma- 


296  GOV.  HENDEICKS'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

tion  of  our  national  administration,  in  its  head  and  in 
its  members.  In  such  a  reformation  the  removal  of  a 
single  officer,  even  the  President,  is  comparatively  a 
trifling  matter  if  the  system  which  he  represents  and 
which  has  fostered  him  is  suffered  to  remain.  The 
President  alone  must  not  be  made  the  scapegoat  for 
the  enormities  of  the  system  which  infects  the  public 
service,  and  threatens  the  destruction  of  our  institu 
tions.  In  some  respects  I  hold  that  the  present  Execu 
tive  has  been  the  victim  rather  than  the  author  of  that 
vicious  system.  Congressional  and  party  leaders  have 
been  stronger  than  the  President.  No  one  man  could 
have  created  it,  and  the  removal  of  no  one  man  can 
amend  it.  It  is  thoroughly  corrupt,  and  must  be  swept 
remorselessly  away  by  the  selection  of  a  government 
composed  of  elements  entirely  new,  and  pledged  to 
radical  reform.  The  first  work  of  reform  must  evi 
dently  be  the  restoration  of  the  normal  operation  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  with  all  its 
amendments.  The  necessities  of  war  cannot  be  pleaded 
in  a  time  of  peace.  The  right  of  local  self-government, 
as  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  of  the  Union,  must  be 
everywhere  restored,  and  the  centralized  (almost  per- 
onal)  imperialism  which  has  been  practised  must  be 
done  away  with,  or  the  first  principles  of  the  Republic 
will  be  lost. 

THE   FINANCIAL   PHOBLEM. 

Our   financial   system    of    expedients    must    be   re 
formed.     Gold    and   silver    are   the   real   standard   of 


GOY.    IIENDEICKS'S   LETTER   OF  ACCEPTANCE.     297 

values ;  and  our  national  currency  will  not  be  a  perfect 
medium  of  exchange  until  it  shall  be  convertible  at 
the  pleasure  of  the  holder.  As  I  have  heretofore  said, 
no  one  desires  a  return  to  specie  payments  more  ear 
nestly  than  I  do ;  but  I  do  not  believe  that  it  will  or 
can  be  reached  in  harmony  with  the  interests  of  the 
people  by  artificial  measures  for  the  contraction  of  the 
currency,  any  more  than  I  believe  that  wealth  or  per 
manent  prosperity  can  be  created  by  an  inflation  of  the 
currency. 

The  laws  of  finance  cannot  be  disregarded  with 
impunity.  The  financial  policy  of  the  Government, 
if,  indeed,  it  deserves  the  name  of  policy  at  all,  has 
been  in  disregard  of  those  laws,  and  therefore  has  dis 
turbed  commercial  and  business  confidence,  as  well  as 
hindered  a  return  to  specie  payments.  One  feature  of 
that  policy  was  the  resumption  clause  of  the  Act  of 
1875,  which  has  embarrassed  the  country  by  the  antici 
pation  of  a  compulsory  resumption,  for  which  no 
preparation  has  been  made,  and  without  any  assurance 
that  it  would  be  practicable.  The  repeal  of  that  clause 
is  necessary,  that  the  natural  operation  of  the  financial 
laws  may  be  restored,  that  the  business  of  the  country 
may  be  relieved  from  its  disturbing  and  depressing 
influences,  and  that  a  return  to  specie  payments  may 
be  facilitated  by  the  substitution  of  wise  and  more 
prudent  legislation,  which  shall  mainly  rely  on  a  judi 
cious  system  of  public  economies  and  efficient  re 
trenchments,  and,  above  all,  on  the  promotion  of 


298     GOV.   HENDRICKS'S   LETTER  OP  ACCEPTANCE. 

prosperity  in  all  the  industries  of  the  people.  I  do  not 
understand  the  repeal  of  the  resumption  clause  of 
the  Act  of  1875  to  be  a  backward  step  in  our  return 
to  specie  payments,  but  the  recovery  of  a  false  step ; 
and,  though  the  repeal  may  for  a  time  be  prevented, 
yet  the  determination  of  the  Democratic  party  on  this 
subject  has  now  been  distinctly  declared.  There 
should  be  no  hinderances  put  in  the  way  of  a  return 
to  specie  payments.  "  As  such  a  hinderance,"  says  the 
platform  of  the  St.  Louis  Convention,  "we  denounce 
the  resumption  clauses  of  the  Act  of  1875,  and 
demand  its  repeal."  I  thoroughly  believe  that  by 
public  economy,  by  official  retrenchment,  and  by  wise 
finance,  enabling  us  to  accumulate  the  precious  metals, 
resumption  at  an  early  period  is  possible,  without  pro 
ducing  an  artificial  scarcity  of  currency,  or  disturbing 
public  or  commercial  credit ;  and  that  these  reforms, 
together  with  the  restoration  of  pure  government,  will 
restore  general  confidence,  encourage  the  useful  invest 
ment  of  capital,  furnish  employment  to  labor,  and 
relieve  the  country  from  the  paralysis  of  hard  times. 
With  the  industries  of  the  people  there  have  been 
frequent  interferences.  Our  platform  truly  says  that 
many  industries  have  been  impoverished  to  subsidize  a 
few.  Our  commerce  has  been  degraded  to  an  inferior 
position  on  the  high  seas  ;  manufactures  have  been 
diminished,  agriculture  has  been  embarrassed ;  and  the 
distress  of  the  industrial  classes  demand  that  these 
things  shall  be  reformed.  The  burdens  of  the  people 


GOV.    HENDRICKS'S    LETTER    OF   ACCEPTANCE.     299 

must  also  be  lightened  by  a  great  change  in  our  system 
of  public  expenses.  The  profligate  expenditures, 
which  increased  taxation,  from  five  dollars  per  capita 
in  1860  to  eighteen  dollars  in  1870,  tells  its  own  story 
of  our  need  of  reform. 

FOREIGN  AFFAIRS.  —  THE  COOLY  TRADE. 

Our  treaties  with  foreign  powers  should  also  be 
revised  and  amended,  in  so  far  as  they  leave  citizens  of 
foreign  birth  in  any  particular  less  secure  in  any  coun 
try  on  earth  than  they  would  be  if  they  had  been 
born  upon  our  own  soil.  And  the  iniquitous  cooly 
system,  which,  through  the  agency  of  wealthy  compa 
nies,  imports  Chinese  bondsmen,  and  establishes  a  spe 
cies  of  slavery,  and  interferes  with  the  just  rewards  of 
labor  on  our  Pacific  coast,  should  be  utterly  abolished. 

CIVIL-SERVICE   REFORM. 

In  the  reform  of  our  civil  service,  I  most  heartily 
indorse  that  section  of  the  platform  which  declares 
that  the  civil  service  ought  not  to  "  be  subject  to 
change  at  every  election,"  and  that  it  ought  not  be 
made  the  "  brief  reward  of  party  zeal,"  but  ought  to 
be  a  reward  for  proved  competency,  and  held  for 
fidelity  in  the  public  employ.  I  hope  never  again  to 
see  the  cruel  and  remorseless  proscription  for  political 
opinions  which  has  disgraced  the  administration  of 
the  last  eight  years.  Bad  as  the  civil  service  now  is, 
as  all  men  know,  it  has  some  men  of  tried  integrity 


300     GOV.    HENDKICKS'S    LETTER    OF    ACCEPTANCE. 

and  proved  ability.  Such  men,  and  such  men  only, 
should  be  retained  in  office ;  but  no  man  should  be 
retained,  on  any  consideration,  who  has  prostituted  his 
office  to  the  purposes  of  partisan  intimidation  or  cor- 
pulsion,  or  who  has  furnished  money  to  corrupt  the 
elections.  This  is  done,  and  has  been  done,  in  almost 
every  county  of  the  land.  It  is  a  blight  upon  the 
morals  of  the  country,  and  ought  to  be  reformed. 

THE    SCHOOLS.  —  SECTIONAL    CONTENTIONS. 

Of  sectional  contentions,  and  in  respect  to  our  com 
mon  schools,  I  have  only  this  to  say:  That,  in  my 
judgment,  the  man  or  party  that  would  involve  our 
schools  in  political  or  sectarian  controversy  is  an  enemy 
to  the  schools.  The  common  schools  are  safer  under 
the  protecting  care  of  all  the  people  than  under  the 
control  of  any  party  or  sect.  There  must  be  neither 
division  nor  misappropriation  of  the  funds  for  their 
support.  Likewise  I  regard  the  man  who  would  arouse 
or  foster  sectional  animosities  and  antagonisms  among 
liis  countrymen  'as  a  dangerous  enemy  to  his  country. 
All  the  people  must  be  made  to  feel  and  know  that 
once  more  there  is  established  a  purpose  and  policy 
under  which  all  the  citizens,  of  every  condition,  race, 
and  color,  will  be  secure  in  the  enjoyment  of  whatever 
rights  the  Constitution  and  laws  declare  or  recognize ; 
and  that,  in  any  controversy  that  may  arise,  the  gov 
ernment  is  not  a  partisan,  but,  within  its  constitutional 
authority,  the  just  and  powerful  guardian  of  the  rights 


GOV.   HENDRICKS'S   LETTER   OF  ACCEPTANCE.     301 

and  safety  of  all.  The  strife  between  the  sections  and 
between  races  will  cease  as  soon  as  the  power  for  evil 
is  taken  away  from  a  party  that  makes  political  gain 
out  of  scenes  of  violence  and  bloodshed,  and  the  con 
stitutional  authority  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  men 
whose  political  welfare  requires  that  peace  and  good 
order  shall  be  preserved  everywhere. 

GOVERNOR   TILDEN   COMMENDED'. 

It  will  be  seen,  gentlemen,  that  I  am  in  entire  accord 
with  the  platform  of  the  Convention  by  which  I  have 
been  nominated  as  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States.  Permit  me,  in  con 
clusion,  to  express  my  satisfaction  at  being  associated 
with  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  who  is  first  among 
his  equals  as  a  representative  of  the  spirit  and  of  the 
achievements  of  reform.  In  his  official  career,  or  as 
the  executive  of  the  great  State  of  New  York,  he  has, 
in  a  comparatively  short  period,  reformed  the  public 
service,  and  reduced  the  public  burdens, so  as  to  have 
earned  at  once  the  gratitude  of  his  State,  and  the 
admiration  of  the  country.  The  people  know  him  to 
be  strongly  in  earnest.  He  has  shown  himself  to  be 
possessed  of  powers  and  qualities  which  fit  him  in  an 
eminent  degree  for  the  great  work  of  reformation  which 
this  country  now  needs ;  and,  if  he  shall  be  chosen  by 
the  people  to  the  high  office  of  President  of  the  United 
States,  I  believe  the  day  of  his  inauguration  will  be 


302  GOV.  HENDRICKS'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

the   beginning   of    a   new   era   of  peace,   purit}^    and 
prosperity  in  all  departments  of  our  government. 
I  am,  gentlemen,  your  obedient  servant, 

THOMAS  A.  HENDBICKS. 

To  the  Hon.  JOHN  A.  MCCLERNAND,  Chairman,   and  others  of 
of  the  Committee  of  the  National  Democratic  Convention. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  PRESS   ON   THE  LETTERS   OF    ACCEPTANCE   OF 
MESSRS.    TILDEN  AND   HENDRICKS. 

New  York  Express.  —  Brooklyn  Eagle.  —  St.  Louis  Republican.  — 
Philadelphia  Times. — Albany  Argus. — Eagle  again. — Boston 
Sunday  Times.  —  Courier.  —  Traveller.  —  New  York  Times.  — 
New  York  Herald.  —  Saturday  Evening  Express.  —  New  Haven 
Register.  —  Springfield  Republican.  —  Baltimore  Gazette.  —  Chica 
go  Times.  —  Cincinnati  Enquirer.  —  New  York  Journal  of  Com 
merce.  —  Detroit  Free  Press.  —  Portland  Argus.  —  Bangor  Com 
mercial.  —  Manchester  Union. 

It  lias  been  seen  that  the  news  of  their  nomination 
was  received  with  rejoicing:  so  it  may  be  well  to  look 
at  the  reception  of  their  letters  of  acceptance. 

[From  the  New  York  Express.] 

The  coast  is  now  clear.  Candidates,  platforms, 
acceptances,  and  arguments  are  all  before  the  country  ; 
and  the  electors  must  prepare  to  make  their  choice.  If 
made  wisely,  the  people  will  be  greatly  blessed  in  their 
Government  and  in  their  business  ;  and,  if  unwisely, 
then  again  we  shall  be  doomed  to  the  terrible  repeti 
tions  of  the  past.  The  letter  of  Mr.  Tilden  is  marked 
with  all  the  peculiarities  of  the  man.  It  is  instructive, 
terse,  timely,  and  complete  in  the  discussion  of  topics 

303 


304  THE  PRESS  ON  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

which  now  interest  the  public.  Withal,  too,  it  is  full 
of  faith  and  hope  as  to  the  capabilities  of  the  country 
and  people  to  be  brought  out  of  their  present  Slough  of 
Despond ;  and  the  way  is  pointed  out  by  making  such 
changes  of  administration  and  of  principles  as  will 
insure  the  desired  end.  .  .  .  The  letter  of  Gov.  Hen- 
dricks  generalizes  where  Gov.  Tilden  condenses  upon 
an  enlargement  of  the  topics  discussed.  Both  are  in 
hearty  accord  with  the  platform.  Both  agree  as  to  the 
need  of  repealing  the  act  denning  the  date  of  resump 
tion.  Both  are  clear  as  to  the  right  private  and  public 
remedies  for  great  public  diseases.  It  is  folly,  or  worse, 
to  attempt  to  point  out  any  great  difference  of  opinion 
between  the  two  men,  as  to  conclusions.  The  style  in 
the  letters  is  the  only  difference,  and  Mr.  Tilden  has 
weighed  his  words,  perhaps,  with  more  care  than  his 
associate ;  but  in  both  letters  there  is  the  plainest 
honesty  of  purpose,  the  most  sincere  love  of  country, 
and  a  healthful  desire  to  save  the  country  from  further 
inflictions  of  evil. 

[From  the  Brooklyn  Eagle.] 

Reform  is  the  keynote,  watchword,  and  basis,  the 
Alpha  and  the  Omega,  of  Mr.  Tilden's  letter.  His 
treatment  of  the  subject  is  characteristic.  He  is  noth 
ing,  if  not  practical ;  he  is  nothing,  if  not  intrepid, 
cogent,  and  candid.  The  reader  will  find  no  gushing, 
and  no  schoolboy  twaddle,  in  his  letter.  It  is  crammed 
with  statements  of  facts  and  propositions.  He  does  not 


THE  PRESS  ON  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE.  805 

try  to  tickle  the  ear:  he  goes  straight  to  the  under 
standing.  He  reposes  on  truth,  and  borrows  nothing 
from  rhetoric.  He  makes  out  a  case  for  the  people,  not 
as  an  attorney  for  one  side,  but  he  delivers  a  judicial 
summary  that  is  just  in  its  views,  complete  in  its  nar 
rative,  profound,  simple,  and  practical  in  all  its  recom 
mendations.  Mr.  Tilden  does  not  pen  half  a  column  of 
jejune  and  pretty  small-talk,  nice  with  genteel  hopes 
and  innocuous  observations.  He  tells  what  is  the  mat 
ter  with  the  country ;  and  he  exhibits  definitely  what 
would  be  the  way  out  of  our  distresses  if  the  guidance 
were  left  to  him.  A  President  with  a  policy  has  been 
the  longing  of  the  nation  for  years.  A  candidate  with 
a  policy  is  presented  by  the  Democrats ;  and  he  himself 
discloses  his  policy  to-day  with  a  detail,  a  largeness,  a 
clearness  and  learning,  that  are  excellent.  We  merely 
want  that  letter  read  ;  and  we  will  risk  the  effect  of  it 
on  any  mind  that  discovers  for  itself  just  what  the 
letter  is. 

[From  the  St.  Louis  Republican.] 

No  abler  exposition  of  the  currency  question  is 
extant.  Of  that  portion  of  the  letter  which  refers  to 
reform,  "  The  Republican  "  says,  "  It  is  drawn  in  terms 
that  must  arouse  every  reader  to  a  realizing  sense  of 
the  truly  perilous  condition  of  the  country.  The 
whole  document  is  couched  in  very  vigorous,  plain,  and 
simple  language.  If  longer  than  such  letters  usually 
are,  it  may  be  said  that  the  occasion  and  the  oppor 
tunity  justify  an  elaborate  presentation  of  views  and 


306     THE  PKESS   ON  THE  LETTEES   OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

sentiments.  The  letter  is  such  a  one  as  could  emanate 
only  from  a  statesman  worthy  to  be  President  of  a 
Great  Republic."  In  connection  with  Mr.  Hendricks 
and  his  letter,  "  The  Republican  "  remarks,  "  Those 
who  have  been  worrying  themselves,  as  to  any  disagree 
ment  of  the  views  of  Gov.  Hendricks  with  the  senti 
ments  expressed  by  the  St.  Louis  Convention,  will  find 
in  his  letter  accepting  the  nomination  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent  that  there  is  no  such  disagreement.  Mr.  Hen 
dricks  starts  out  with  a  full,  unequivocal,  and  emphatic 
indorsement  of  the  Democratic  platform  in  its  entirety ; 
and  in  all  its  parts  this  document  is  a  most  admirable 
one." 

[From  the  Philadelphia  Times.] 

As  all  expected  from  Samuel  J.  Tildeu,  his  letter  is 
replete  with  rare  good  sense  and  sound  conclusions ; 
and  it  will  be  difficult  for  carping  criticism  to  find  good 
foothold  for  its  work.  It  is  somewhat  circumlocutary 
and  stubbornly  mathematical  in  reaching  its  conclu 
sions  on  the  financial  issue ;  but  men  of  diverse  theo 
ries  as  to  resumption  will  read  it,  and  wonder  why  they 
find  so  little  in  it  to  dissent  from.  Both  Tilden  and 
Hendricks,  although  presumed  to  represent  antagonistic 
convictions  on  the  financial  question,  plod  on  smoothly 
and  pleasantly,  each  in  his  own  way,  until  they  find 
themselves  as  "  two  souls  with  but  a  single  thought" 
on  the  vexatious  issue  of  specie  payments.  .  .  .  On 
but  a  single  other  point  does  Mr.  Tilden  depart  from 
the  plain  lines  of  the  St.  Louis  platform.  His  brief 


THE  PRESS  ON  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE.  307 

but  cogent  argument  in  favor  of  a  single  Presidential 
term  is  one  of  his  happiest  and  strongest  declarations, 
and  bears  upon  its  face  the  impress  of  sincere  con 
viction.  On  the  true  relations  of  the  North  and  South 
to  each  other,  he  utters  the  views  of  every  patriot ;  on 
the  question  of  civil-service  reform,  his  positive  and 
practical  pledges  contrast  sublimely  with  the  high- 
sounding  word-painting  of  Gov.  Hayes ;  and  his  con 
cluding  paragraph,  which  of  itself  would  have  made 
a  complete  and  appropriate  letter,  has  the  ring  of  an 
earnest  man  whose  terse  sentences  are  inspired  by  an 
earnest  purpose. 

[From  the  Albany  Argus.] 

Gov.  Tilden's  letter,  accepting  the  nomination  of  the 
St.  Louis  Convention  for  the  office  of  President  of 
the  United  States,  will  attract  universal  attention,  and 
cannot  fail  to  win  the  hearty  approval  of  every  Ameri 
can  patriot.  In  this  admirable  State  paper,  the  subject 
of  the  currency  is  exhaustively  discussed,  and  in  a 
style  so  clear  and  simple  as  to  readily  and  permanently 
familiarize  the  mind  of  every  reader  with  all  the  bear 
ings  of  the  question.  All  sections  have  a  common 
interest  in  a  staple  policy  such  as  shall  insure  general 
confidence,  and  work  the  earliest  return  to  specie  pay 
ments.  Gov.  Tilden  shows  the  way  out  of  the  present 
depression,  and  conclusively  demonstrates  that  specie 
payments  can  be  speedily  resumed,  not  only  without 
embarrassment  to  business,  but  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
afford  it  great  and  permanent  relief. 


308  THE  PRESS  ON  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

No  subject  upon  which  the  public  welfare  depends  is 
overlooked  by  the  Governor ;  nor  is  there  an  evasive 
or  doubtful  phrase  in  its  whole  composition.  In  it  the 
wisdom  of  the  statesman  and  the  candid  simplicity  of 
private  citizenship  are  blended. 

The  letter  of  Gov.  Hendricks,  accepting  the  nomina 
tion  of  Vice-President,  is  a  cogent  and  convincing 
enforcement  of  the  principles  and  purposes  enunciated 
by  the  Convention.  His  cordial  and  emphatic  approval 
of  the  platform  was  to  be  expected ;  for  it  is  in  entire 
harmony  with  all  his  public  utterances  and  official  acts. 

[From  the  Brooklyn  Eagle.] 

Earnest,  manly,  hearty,  and  courtly  Thomas  A.  Hen 
dricks  writes  a  letter  which,  in  one  act,  raises  the  states 
man  of  the  West  above  the  misrepresentation  of  the 
homoncules  of  the  East.  Read  it  through,  and  then 
read  it  again.  He  shows  even  Grant  to  be  better  than 
the  system  he  is  hemmed  in  by.  How  much  more 
would  Hayes,  the  merely  petty  man  of  politics,  be  mal 
formed  by  that  which  has  wrought  mayhem  of  charac 
ter  to  the  grim  and  stolid  Grant !  Every  line  of  Mr. 
Hendricks  is  worth  a  dollar  in  specie,  so  hard  money 
are  his  words.  His  review  of  our  case  as  a  people  fits 
the  fame  of  the  leader  of  the  Senate,  in  times  when 
sciolism  and  hate  could  outvote  him,  but  could  not 
reply  to  him.  The  campaign  is  now  open.  Room  for 
th»  reformers,  the  patriots,  and  the  statesmen,  who  have 
been  selected  by  the  party  of  the  people,  to  head  the 


THE  PKESS  ON  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE.  309 

crusade  against  the  intrenched  plunderers,  a  libel  on 
the  term  Republicanism,  a  scandal  on  the  name  Ameri 
can ! 

[From  the  Boston  Sunday  Times.] 

The  difference  is  about  this :  The  letter  of  Gov. 
Hayes  is  the  enunciation  of  an  ideal  statesman ;  that 
of  Gov.  Tilden,  the  giving-«>ut  of  a  practical  reformer. 
Both  men  mean  well ;  but  the  question  is,  which  can 
perform  best  ?  The  nation  is  wandering  in  a  financial 
wilderness ;  but,  before  it  engages  a  guide  to  get  it  out,  it 
wants  some  assurance  of  his  ability.  So  the  case  simply 
resolves  itself  into  this :  Who  is  the  mcot  capable  of 
being  the  American  Moses,  Hayes  or  Tilden  ?  Viewed 
simply  in  the  light  of  their  letters  of  acceptance,  we 
should  say,  most  decidedly,  Gov.  Tilden,  as  his  epistle 
shows  him  to  be  one  of  the  most  consummate  masters  of 
finance,  and  political  economists,  which  the  country  has 
produced.  Both  he  and  Hayes  are  thoroughly  honest 
men,  and  both  promise  to  bring  every  thing  all  right 
if  elected.  So  the  country  has  not  to  choose  between 
their  desire  to  accomplish  the'  needed  reforms,  but, 
rather,  between  their  abilities.  Judged  by  this  standard, 
with  all  possible  respect  for  the  capacity  of  Gov.  Hayes, 
we  hadly  think  he  can  compare  with  Samuel  J.  Tilden. 
The  first  has  expressed  his  preference  for  honest  govern 
ment,  and  no  one  doubts  it ;  but  the  second  has  smitten 
thieves  right  and  left,  wherever  he  found  them,  and  not 
only  injured  his  popularity  in  his  native  State,  but  even 
imperilled  his  Presidential  nomination. 


310  THE  PRESS  ON  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

[From  the  Boston  Sunday  Courier.] 

There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  unnecessary  and  irrel 
evant  talk  about  the  delay  in  the  appearance  of  the 
Hon.  Samuel  J.  Tilden's  letter  of  acceptance  of  the 
Democratic  nomination  for  the  Presidency.  Mr.  Tilden 
is  not  a  gentleman  of  leisure,  but  the  Governor  of  the 
most  important  Commonwealth  in  the  Union ;  and  the 
duties  of  that  office,  if  properly  performed,  naturally 
occupy  every  hour  that  a  man  of  Mr.  Tilden's  years 
and  habits  can  devote  to  business.  He  has  simply 
taken  proper  and  necessary  time  in  which  to  frame  an 
epistle  whose  importance  he  recognizes  by  the  time  lie 
has  taken  in  preparing  it  for  the  public ;  and  no  unpre 
judiced  person  will  believe  that  the  so-called  delay  has 
been  a  misappropriation  of  time. 

The  two  following  selections,  one  from  the  "  Boston 
Traveller,"  the  other  from  "  The  New  York  Times," 
show  through  what  different  glasses  people  see,  or 
think  they  see. 

[From  the  Boston  Traveller.] 

This  letter  has  much  that  is  good  ;  but  its  good  recom 
mendations  can  be  found  in  the  messages  of  Pres.  Grant, 
in  the  Republican  platform,  and  in  the  letter  of  Gov. 
Hayes.  He  makes  no  new  suggestions ;  and  after  read 
ing  it  the  country  will  know  no  more  of  his  financial 
views,  no  more  of  his  opinions  in  relation  to  practical 
measures  for  the  pacification  of  the  South,  no  more  of 
what  he  would  recommend  to  restore  activity  and  pros- 


THE  PRESS  ON  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE.  311 

perity  to  business,  than  it  did  before.  He  is  definite 
enough  when  describing  evils  that  every  one  is  aware 
of,  and  in  recommending  measures  that  everybody  is  in 
favor  of,  and  he  is  enthusiastic  when  describing  himself 
as  a  reformer ;  but,  on  all  questions  upon  which  there 
are  differences  of  opinion,  he  is  wordy,  non-committal, 
and  unsatisfactory  to  those  who  seek  to  know  what  his 
opinions  are. 

[From  the  New  York  Times.] 

Gov.  Tilden's  letter  of  acceptance,  so  far  as  it  relates 
to  finance  and  "  reform,"  is  a  mere  rehash  of  his  last 
Annual  Message.  The  St.  Louis  platform  was  also  a 
rehash  of  the  same  document  by  the  same  hand.  Here 
we  have  three  documents,  all  from  the  same  pen,  all 
containing  the  same  barren  ideas,  and  overflowing  with 
cant  about  reform,  and  exaggerated  and  untruthful 
charges  against  the  Republican  party.  For  that  organi 
zation,  as  our  readers  well  know,  we  do  not  claim  per 
fection  ;  but  we  are  ready  to  defend  it  from  slander,  and 
slander  is  the  weapon  with  which  Gov.  Tilden  assails 
its  financial  record  and  policy. 

[From  the  New  York  Herald.] 

On  the  currency  question,  Gov.  Tilden  and  Gov. 
Hendricks  are  in  accord.  If  any  thing,  the  expressions 
of  Gov.  Hendricks  on  this  subject  are  stronger  than 
those  of  his  colleague,  because  they  are  more  intelli 
gible.  He  desires  the  repeal  of  the  Resumption  Act,  as 
the  retracing  of  a  false  step.  Gov.  Tilden  virtually 


312  THE  PRESS  ON  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

takes  the  same  ground,  although  at  some  length  and 
with  consummate  ability  he  points  out  the  blunders  in 
our  whole  financial  legislation  since  the  close  of  the 
war.  This  part  of  Gov.  Tilden's  letter  will  bear  careful 
study,  and  should  be  read  over  and  over  again  by  those 
who  care  to  comprehend  his  scheme  for  a  reform  in  our 
currency.  First,  the  Governor  would  repeal  the  Resump 
tion  Act,  because  it  means  nothing  ;  then  he  would  save 
enough  money  to  redeem  the  legal-tenders  ;  and,  when 
we  had  that  "  central  reservoir  of  coin,"  he  would  resume. 
He  indicates  no  time  when  this  resumption  will  take 
place,  although  he  thinks  the  sooner  the  better.  He 
has  no  faith  in  statutes  fixing  certain  days  for  resump 
tion,  because  they  are  not  respected.  This  whole  busi 
ness,  he  proceeds  to  say,  "  belongs  to  the  domain  of 
practical  administrative  statesmanship.  The  captain 
of  a  steamer  about  starting  from  New  York  to  Liverpool 
does  not  assemble  a  council  over  his  ocean-chart,  and  fix 
an  angle  by  which  to  lash  the  rudder  for  the  whole 
voyage  :  a  human  intelligence  must  be  at  the  helm  to 
discern  the  shifting  forces  of  the  waters  and  the  winds." 
This  figure  of  rhetoric  expresses  the  position  of  the  two 
statesmen,  and  it  may  be  thus  expressed :  "  Repeal 
resumption,  save  your  money,  and  allow  the  President 
to  resume  when  he  is  ready."  The  clear  and  gratify 
ing  fact,  however,  is,  that  Mr.  Tilden,  if  elected,  will, 
whether  the  Resumption  Act  is  repealed  or  not,  use  all 
the  powers  of  the  administration  to  secure  resumption. 
He  is  for  hard  money  and  paying  the  national  debt. 


THE  PRESS  ON  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE.  313 

[From  the  Boston  Saturday  Evening  Express.] 

As  documents,  they  are  marked  by  remarkable 
statesmanship,  high-toned  sentiment,  lofty  principles, 
and  unanswerable  logic.  We  doubt  if  any  similar 
papers  that  ever  emanated  from  public  men  in  the 
country,  since  the  organization  of  our  Government, 
have  been  more  admirable  in  statement,  more  sound 
in  argument,  or  more  true  and  philosophical  in  their 
conclusions.  They  have  already  met,  and  will  continue 
to  meet,  the  heartiest  welcome  and  approval  of  not 
only  the  entire  Democracy  of  the  country,  but  of  thou 
sands  of  honest,  independent  men,  who  have  hitherto 
acted  with  another  political  organization.  The  letter 
and  the  platform  constitute  a  ground  upon  which  all 
men  who  desire  to  have,  and  can  assuredly  get,  a  good 
administration  of  affairs,  may  stand  shoulder  to  shoul 
der,  and  go  forward  in  a  common  and  glorious  cause,  — 
the  re-organization  and  restoration  of  the  Government. 
On  for  Tilden  and  Hendricks ! 

[From  the  New  Haven  Register.] 

No  American  citizen  should  lay  down  his  paper, 
until  he  has  perused  carefully  the  grand  letters  of 
acceptance  of  Messrs.  Tilden  and  Hendricks.  To  say 
they  are  what  every  Democrat  expected,  would  not 
be  expressive  of  the  satisfaction  which  all  feel  at 
marching  to  victory  under  a  banner  that  so  fully  em 
blazons  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  Constitution,  and 
under  a  leader  who  boldly  rides  at  the  head  of  his 


314  THE  PKESS  ON  THE  LETTEES  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

attacking  columns.  It  is  seldom,  in  a  century's  time, 
that  such  a  forcible  document  as  Mr.  Tilden's  letter 
bursts  upon  a  people,  putting  to  flight  all  the  foul 
birds  that  have  built  their  nests  under  the  cornices 
of  the  American  Capitol,  and  defiled  its  interior  with 
a  corruption  unimaginable  to  the  great  body  of  the 
people. 

[From  the  Springfield  Republican.] 

Mr.  Tilden  illustrates  his  just  sense  of  proportion  in 
devoting  so  large  a  part  of  his  letter  to  the  economical 
questions  now  pressing  so  urgently  for  solution,  — to  the 
problem  of  specific  resumption,  and  the  cognate  topics 
of  public  expenditure,  taxation,  and  revenue.  These 
questions  are  not  new  to  him.  They  have  occupied 
his  thoughts  for  years.  In  treating  them,  he  is  on 
familiar  and  favorite  ground.  He  brings  to  their  dis 
cussion  a  well-trained  and  well-stored  mind.  At  once 
a  student,  and  a  man  of  affairs,  he  discusses  these 
questions  in  a  practical,  impressive,  illuminating  way, 
which  the  plain  people,  at  all  events,  will  appreciate. 
Even  those  who  dissent,  in  whole  or  part,  from  his 
conclusions,  will  recognize  the  intelligence  and  cogency 
of  his  reasoning.  .  .  .  The  vigorous  sentences  in  which 
Mr.  Tilden  discusses  the  abuses  of  our  partisanized 
civil  service,  points  out  the  plain  and  accepted  reme 
dies,  avows  his  purpose  to  use  them,  and  commits 
himself  definitely  to  the  policy  of  embedding  the  one- 
term  principle  in  the  organic  law,  are  full  of  the  intelli 
gence,  as  well  as  the  spirit,  of  reform.  Hardly  less 


THE  PRESS  OX  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE.  315 

satisfactory  is  his  brief  but  explicit  and  strong  treat 
ment  of  the  Southern  question.  The  pledge,  that,  if 
elected,  he  will  use  all  his  Constitutional  powers  to 
protect  every  citizen,  white  or  black,  in  the  enjoyment 
of  his  political  and  personal  rights,  seems  to  cover  the 
ground.  .  .  .  Taken  together,  the  letters  undoubtedly 
increase  the  chances  of  their  writers.  They  are  letters 
for  independent  voters  to  rejoice  in,  and  "  edify  by." 
They  give  occasion  for  general  congratulation  and 
encouragement. 

[From  the  Baltimore  Gazette.] 

The  letter  of  acceptance,  which  has  been  so  eagerly 
awaited,  has  come  at  last,  in  a  form  that  repays  us  for 
all  delay.  It  is  clear,  earnest,  and  forcible,  and  carries 
with  it  a  weight  of  conviction  that  will  sink  into  the 
minds  of  the  people.  Its  style  is  somewhat  cumbrous, 
but  it  is  not  in  the  least  ambiguous.  It  has  a  hearty 
ring,  a  statesmanlike  breadth,  a  fulness  of  detail,  an 
aggressive  tone,  and  a  decided  and  definite  policy,  in  all 
of  which  respects  it  differs  from  the  timid  and  faltering 
letter  of  Mr.  Hayes. 

[From  the  Chicago  Times.] 

So  clear,  cogent,  and  masterful  a  condensation  of  the 
financial  question  has  never  been  presented  in  so  small 
a  space.  Never  since  the  foundation  of  this  Govern 
ment  has  there  been  a  man  selected  for  the  great 
station  to  which  Tilden  is  nominated,  who  has  had  so 
accurate  a  knowledge  of  the  functions  of  the  office  ; 


316  THE  PKESS  ON  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

never,  since  Jefferson,  a  man  who  could  embody,  with 
such  irresistible  cogency,  the  very  essence  of  practical 
administration.  Of  the  South,  he  speaks  with  thorough 
manliness  and  discretion.  He  will  administer  the  law 
in  behalf  of  white  and  black,  irrespective  of  color,  and 
enforce  penalties  for  murder  with  swift  and  heavy 
stroke.  He  speaks  throughout  like  a  man  impressed 
with  the  weight  of  the  work  that  is  slowly  descending 
upon  him.  There  are  none  of  the  fine  phrases  of 
the  ordinary  candidates.  Ruggedness,  force,  intensity, 
work,  stand  out  in  every  line  and  syllable.  If  Franklin 
or  Jefferson,  or  any  of  the  more  eminent  of  the  frugal 
fathers,  were  called  upon,  they  would  have  written  just 
about  such  a  letter  as  Mr.  Tilden  sends  out  to  his 
countrymen,  invoking  their  confidence,  and  revealing 
his  desires.  As  a  campaign  production,  the  letter  pre 
sents  all  the  issues  with  a  cogency  of  argument,  a  com 
pactness  of  statement,  a  brilliancy  of  illustration,  which 
take  it  far  out  of  the  literature  of  its  class,  and  stamp  its 
author  a  statesman.  The  position  of  Hendricks  on  the 
currency  question  may  be  accepted  as  a  sign  of  im 
provement  in  the  political  condition,  since  it  virtually 
removes  the  head  and  front,  and  disrupts  the  whole 
regimen,  of  inflationism.  Hendricks  does  no  discredit, 
in  this  utterance,  to  the  company  he  is  in.  Substan 
tially  in  accord  with  the  hard-money  men,  and  greatly 
in  advance  of  Hayes  on  civil-service  reform,  he  should 
no  longer  be  an  impediment  to  the  overpowering  per 
sonality  of  our  Uncle  Samuel. 


THE  PRESS  ON  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE.  317 

[From  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer.] 

The  keynote  of  the  letter  of  Mr.  Tilden  is,  as  was 
expected,  a  demand  for  reform,  giving  the  reasons  why. 
It  is  a  potent  plea  for  economy,  for  the  lessening  of 
taxation,  for  simplicity  in  government,  for  relief.  .  .  . 
We  opposed  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Tilden.  When 
nominated,  we  gave  him  support.  With  his  letter 
before  us,  we  cordially  call  upon  our  friends  everywhere 
to  give  him  an  earnest  support.  He  has  left  no  excuse 
for  a  third  party.  He  has  left  no  excuse  for  rebellion 
or  "  bolting  "  among  Democratic  ranks.  He  has  made 
noble  and  statesmanlike  concessions  to  the  Democracy 
of  the  West,  by  reason  of  which  he  deserves  their 
support. 

[From  the  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce.] 

Gov.  Tilden,  if  elected  President,  could  not  hope  by 
his  influence  to  control  or  sensibly  shape  the  course  of 
Congress  in  most  matters ;  but  he  has  exhibited  great 
cleverness  at  Albany  in  impressing  the  necessity  of 
certain  reforms  on  an  adverse  majority  in  the  State 
Senate,  and  might  perhaps  do  the  same  at  Washington. 
A  Republican  Senate  voted  with  a  Democratic  House, 
in  1875,  all  the  resolutions  and  bills  for  ferreting  out 
and  punishing  the  canal  thieves.  The  Governor's 
recommendations  to  the  Legislature  were  so  wise  and 
good  that  neither  party  dared  to  refuse  them.  All  of 
his  reform  projects  of  that  year  passed  the  Legislature, 
not  necessarily  because  both  parties  liked  them,  but 
because  they  feared  to  vote  them  down,  and  face  the 


318  THE  PRESS  ON  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

public  wrath.  Mr.  Tilden's  tact  in  this  line  might  be 
operative  on  the  larger  scale  at  Washington,  and  the 
two  branches  be  morally  compelled  to  agree  in  support 
ing  him  in  some  reforms.  ...  It  is  now  in  the  power  of 
the  people,  by  the  election  of  Mr.  Tilden  for  President, 
to  realize  and  enjoy  some  of  those  reforms  for  which 
they  so  eagerly  long.  Nothing  but  a  change  of  admin 
istration  can  do  the  good  work. 

[From  the  Detroit  Free  Press.] 

The  letter  speaks  for  itself ;  and  it  is  clear,  bold,  and 
refreshing  in  its  utterances.  It  touches  upon  the  vital 
questions  before  the  people,  with  a  directness  that  must 
convince  every  reader  of  the  downright  earnestness  of 
the  writer,  and,  as  we  believe,  confirm  a  large  majority 
of  the  people  in  the  judgment  they  had  already  formed, 
that  Samuel  J.  Tilden  is  pre-eminently  the  man  to  be 
placed  at  the  helm  of  the  Ship  of  State.  Gov.  Hen- 
dricks's  letter  is  an  admirable  companion-piece  to  that 
of  Gov.  Tilden.  It  is  not  so  elaborate  ;  but  it  is  inci 
sive,  pertinent,  and  statesmanlike,  and  in  every  way 
worthy  of  the  pure  and  able  Governor  of  Indiana. 

[From  the  Portland  (Me.)  Argus.] 

The  letters  speak  for  themselves,  and  will  richly 
repay  careful  perusal  by  every  citizen.  That  of  Gov. 
Tilden  presents  the  causes  of  the  present  palsy  of  busi 
ness,  and  the  methods  of  certain  and  complete  recupera 
tion,  in  a  masterly  manner.  Gov.  Tilden  is  a  statesman. 
He  is  endowed  by  Nature  for  that  role,  and  he  has 


THE  PRESS  OX  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE.  319 

improved  well  his  extraordinary  natural  gifts.  The 
financial  policy  of  the  Government,  at  every  step,  has 
received  his  careful  study,  making  plain  its  errors  and 
the  consequences,  as  well  as  the  true  methods  from 
which  there  has  been  so  wide  a  departure.  The  letter 
of  Gov.  Hendricks  is  able,  frank,  and  sound,  —  fit  com 
panion  for  that  of  Gov.  Tilden.  Both  will  receive  the 
unhesitating  approbation  of  every  true  Democrat, 
while  fair-minded  Republicans  will  concede  to  both  a 
breadth  and  elevation  of  statesmanship  of  which  any 
party  might  well  be  proud. 

[From  the  Hartford  Times.] 

This  letter  is  a  text-book  of  truthful  and  wise 
sentiments  ;  and  it  will  be  accepted  as  the  letter  of  a 
statesman,  ranking  with  the  writings  of  the  "  Fathers  " 
whose  wisdom  and  foresight  are  so  universally 
applauded  in  this  centennial  year.  The  letter  needs  no 
review  or  praise.  Nothing  can  be  said  to  strengthen 
its  impregnable  positions,  or  its  broad  and  wise  propo 
sitions.  We  can  only  most  earnestly  commend  it  to 
the  careful  perusal  of  every  reader,  with  the  assurance 
that  it  is  not  too  lengthy,  for  in  all  its  parts  it  is  richly 
laden  with  the  truths  and  sentiments  for  which  the 
whole  country  is  thirsting. 

[From  the  Bangor  Commercial.] 

No  better,  no  more  refreshing,  no  more  statesmanlike 
document,  has  been  laid  before  the  American  people 


320  THE  PRESS  ON  THE  LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

since  their  drooping  hopes  were  revived  by  the  first 
inaugural  address  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  seventy-five 
years  ago. 

[From  the  Manchester  (N.H.)  Union.] 

These  letters  will  be  read  with  lively  interest  by  the 
people.  They  show  the  Democratic  candidates  to  be 
thoroughly  and  earnestly  enlisted  in  the  reforms  de 
manded  by  the  people.  Their  election  by  a  good 
majority  —  as  now  appears  probable  —  would  give  the 
work  of  reform  a  start  that  would  soon  change  the 
present  sad  state  of  affairs  for  the  better.  The  people 
must  look  to  their  interests  in  this  matter. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

MB.     TILDEN    ON    A    NATIONAL    BANK    IN     1840.  —  HIS 
MESSAGE  IN  1875. 

Causes  of  Fluctuation  in  Prices.  —  Previous  Crises  and  Failures.  — 
United  States  Bank  and  Expansion  of  Currency  the  Causes.  —  From 
Mr.  Tilden's  Speech  in  1868.  —  Conclusion. 

OF  the  United  States  Bank,  technically  called  "  Nick 
Biddle's  Bank,"  which  Gen.  Jackson  strangled,  and  of 
the  "  deposits  "  which  he  removed,  the  present  genera 
tion  know  nothing  but  what  they  have  learned  from 
history,  or  from  a  few  of  us  old  fellows  who  remain, 
and  whom  it  is  as  uncommon  to  see  as  a  mole  above 
ground.  Mr.  Tilden  has  always  been  a  "  hard-money  " 
man.  Even  Thomas  H.  Benton,  whom  the  country 
named  "  Old  Bullion,"  was  scarcely  more  so.  I  quote 
the  following  from  Mr.  Tilden's  speech  at  New  Leba 
non,  Oct.  30,  1840  :  - 

CAUSES   OF  THE  RECENT  FLUCTUATION  IN  PRICES. 

The  first  and  chief  cause  is  a  fluctuation  in  the 
currency.  The  price  of  an  article  is  the  amount  of 
money  for  which  it  will  exchange.  If,  with  the  same 
articles  in  the  market,  the  amount  of  money  to  purchase 

321 


322  SPEECHES   OF   MH.   TILDEN. 

them  be  increased,  they  will  exchange  for  more  money ; 
in  other  words,  their  prices  will  rise.  Or,  if  the  amount 
of  money  be  decreased,  they  will  be  exchanged  for  less 
money ;  in  other  words,  their  prices  will  fall.  I  do  not 
mean  that  the  price  of  each  article  will  vary  just 
according  to  variations  in  the  amount  of  money  ;  for 
circumstances  will  always  exist,  peculiar  to  particular 
articles  or  classes  of  articles,  to  make  them  rise  and  fall 
more  or  less  than  the  average.  But,  in  regard  to  the 
mass  of  articles  taken  together,  the  principle  is  not  only 
obviously  true,  but  is  verified  by  all  experience. 


HOW    A    NATIONAL     BANK     REGULATED     THE     CUB- 
KENCY. 

Plow  could  a  large  bank,  constituted  on  essentially 
the  same  principles,  be  expected  to  regulate  beneficially 
the  lesser  banks  ?  Has  enlarged  power  been  found  to 
be  less  liable  to  abuse  than  limited  power  ?  Has  con 
centrated  power  been  found  less  liable  to  abuse  than 
distributed  power  ? 

If  any  entertained  an  exception  so  contrary  to  all 
human  experience,  the  experience  ought  to  satisfy  them 
of  its  fallacy. 

The  United  States  Bank  commenced  its  operations  in 
January,  1817.  Although  a  nominal  resumption  of 
specie  payments  by  the  State  banks  took  place,  the 
currency  was  dangerously  extended.  The  bank  urged 
its  notes  into  circulation  with  unprecedented  rapidity  ; 


SPEECHES   OF  MR.   TILDEN.  323 

and,  the  excess  causing  a  constant  exportation  of  specie, 
it  sought  to  counteract  that  effect,  not  by  reducing  the 
currency  to  its  proper  amount,  but  by  forced  importa 
tions  of  specie,  which  it  made  to  the  extent  of  seven 
millions,  and  at  a  great  loss.  It  continued  these  opera 
tions  till  July,  1818,  when  its  circulation  amounted  to 
nine  millions,  and  its  loans  to  forty-nine  millions.  A 
revulsion  then  commenced ;  and  the  bank  began  a 
rapid  contraction.  But  its  affairs  grew  every  day 
worse.  In  February,  1819,  Mr.  Jones,  its  president, 
resigned ;  and  Mr.  Cheves  of  South  Carolina  was 
appointed  in  his  place.  In  an  exposition  made  several 
years  after  to  the  stockholders,  that  gentleman  states, 
that,  as  he  was  about  to  commence  his  journey  to  Phila 
delphia,  he  was  apprised  that  the  bank  would  soon  be 
obliged  to  stop  payment ;  and,  when  he  "  reached 
Washington,  he  received  hourly  proofs  of  the  probabil 
ity  of  this  event ;  "  that  "  in  Philadelphia  it  was  gener 
ally  expected."  He  also  states  that  on  the  1st  of  April 
the  specie  in  its  vaults  was  reduced  to  seventy-nine 
thousaiid  dollars,  while  its  balances  to  the  Philadelphia 
banks  were  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  thousand  dol 
lars.  By  a  rigorous  contraction  of  its  issues,  and  the 
cutting-off  of  all  its  exchange  business,  by  the  whole 
aid  of  the  Government,  and  a  loan  in  Europe,  it  barely 
weathered  the  storm,  but  was  for  years  in  a  sickly  con 
dition.  The  prostration  of  business  and  prices  during 
this  period  was  without  a  parallel ;  and  the  bank  was 
universally  regarded  as  the  main  agent  of  the  mischief. 


324  SPEECHES   OF  MR.   TILDEN. 

The  reduction  of  the  whole  currency  from  the  height 
of  the  expansion  to  the  1st  of  January,  1820,  was  one- 
third  ;  that  of  the  circulation  of  the  bank  was  nearly 
two-thirds. 

The  next  great  crisis  was  in  the  fall  of  1825.  Mr. 
Biddle,  in  his  testimony  before  a  committee  of  Congress, 
describes  it  as  "  the  most  disastrous  period  in  the  finan 
cial  history  of  England,"  when  the  "  wild  speculations 
in  American  mines,  and  wilder  speculations  in  Ameri 
can  cotton,  recoiled  upon  England,  and  spread  over  it 
extensive  ruin ; "  and  says  that  "  the  very  same  storm 
passed  over  this  county  a  few  weeks  before,"  and 
"  was  on  the  eve  of  producing  precisely  the  same 
results."  He  also  states,  that  this  "  panic,  which  would 
have  been  fatal  to  the  country,"  was  averted  by  his 
hurrying  to  New  York,  and  prevailing  on  a  gentleman 
to  accept  drafts,  "  who  was  preparing  to  'draw  specie 
from  the  banks  of  Philadelphia,"  to  establish  a  bank  in 
New  Orleans.  It  has  been  intimated  that  Mr.  Biddle's 
private  night-journey  was  occasioned  by  an  emergency 
more  peculiar  to  his  own  institution  than  he  would 
have  the  public  suppose  ;  but  lie  admits  enough.  He 
shows  how  near,  even  on  the  most  favorable  account 
of  the  matter,  the  whole  system  of  currency,  with  its 
regulator,  came  to  a  total  overthrow,  and  by  how  slight 
and  common  a  circumstance  it  was  alternately  jeop 
arded  and  saved.  Turn  now  from  the  account  of  this 
hair's-breadth  escape,  to  what  Mr.  Biddle  did  not  so 
frankly  relate,  —  the  source  of  the  peril.  The  returns 


SPEECHES   OF  MB.   TILDEN.  325 

» 

of  the  bank  show  that  its  circulation  increased  in  the 
two  years  previous  to  July,  1825,  more  than  a  hundred 
and  five  per  cent ;  and,  in  the  six  months  previous  to 
that  time,  more  than  fifty-seven  per  cent.  I  have  not 
the  means  of  ascertaining  the  increase  in  the  circula 
tion  of  the  State  banks  during  this  period  ;  but  there  is 
abundant  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  in  nothing  like 
the  same  proportion.  The  subsequent  reduction  fell 
mainly  upon  them ;  the  United  States  Bank  succeeding 
in  substituting,  to  a  considerable  extent,  its  notes  for 
theirs.  Its  success,  however,  in  the  competition  for 
private  profit,  was  a  poor  consolation  to  the  public,  who 
were  victims  to  the  process.  Mr.  McCulloch  states 
that,  during  the  same  two  years,  the  country  banks  of 
England  extended  their  circulation  fifty  per  cent;  and 
he  exclaims  against  such  an  increase  as  "  extravagant 
and  unprincipled," —  an  increase  less  than  half  as  great 
as  that  of  our  "  regulator." 

A  revulsion  rather  less  severe  occurred  in  the  com 
mencement  of  1832.  The  United  States  Bank  was 
greatly  embarrassed.  It  procured  the  payment  of  the 
three  per  cents,  for  which  the  Government  had  pro 
vided  the  means,  to  be  postponed  ;  and,  when  the  time 
to  which  it  had  been  postponed  approached,  it  sent  a 
confidential  director  abroad  to  make  an  arrangement 
with  the  holders  of  the  stocks,  not  to  present  them  for 
payment,  while  it  held  and  used  the  money  Govern 
ment  had  provided  for  their  redemption.  The  form  in 
which  the  transaction  was  first  attempted,  the  bank 


326  SPEECHES  OF  MR.  TILDEN. 

was  obliged  to  disavow  as  constituting  a  violation  of 
its  charter,  that  in  which  it  was  consummated  being 
merely  a  breach  of  trust.  The  increase  of  its  circula 
tion  during  the  two  years  previous  to  the  1st  of  Janu 
ary,  1832,  was  sixty-four  per  cent ;  and  its  reduction  in 
the  summer  after,  about  twenty  per  cent.  The  circula 
tion  of  the  New  York  banks  increased,  during  the  same 
period,  twenty-nine  per  cent ;  that  x>f  the  Pennsylvania 
banks,  from  February,  1829,  to  November,  1831,  about 
twenty-one  per  cent.  It  is  difficult  to  procure  returns 
from  the  banks  sufficiently  near  the  dates  to  afford  a 
just  comparison  ;  but  such  as  are  procured  show  that 
the  average  increase,  even  if  it  were  larger  than  that 
of  the  New  York  banks,  was  very  far  short  of  that  of 
the  United  States  Bank. 

In  the  fall  of  1833  the  removal  of  the  deposits  was 
made  ;  and  the  panic  of  1834  followed.  The  bank,  by 
October,  1834,  had  contracted  its  circulation  nearly 
twenty  per  cent,  and  its  loans  more  than  fourteen 
millions,  as  it  alleged,  in  consequence  of  that  measure. 
When  its  attempt  to  coerce  a  restoration  of  the  de 
posits  and  a  renewal  of  its  charter  failed,  it  commenced 
an  expansion  ;  and  by  July,  1835,  extended  its  circula 
tion  sixty-two  per  cent,  and  its  loans  nineteen  millions, 
or  five  millions  more  than  all  the  reduction  which  it 
pretended  it  had  been  forced  to  make  by  the  removal 
of  the  deposits  ;  and  that  when  its  charter  had  but 
eight  months  longer  to  run.  The  great  expansion 
which  produced  the  disastrous  excesses  of  1835  and 


SPEECHES   OF   MB.   TILDEN.  327 

1886  occurred  mainly  in  the  former  year ;  and  the 
whole  enlargement  of  the  currency  during  that  year 
was  thirty-four  per  cent,  or,  if  we  take  the  net  circula 
tion,  thirty-one  per  cent ;  and  during  that  year  and  the 
next,  less  than  forty-four,  and,  if  we  take  the  net  cir 
culation,  thirty-six  per  cent.  The  ratio  of  expansion 
of  its  net  circulation  by  the  United  States  Bank,  to 
July,  1835,  was  from  November,  1834,  sixty-two  per 
cent  ;  from  January,  1835,  when  the  currency  had 
reached  at  least  a  level,  forty-six  per  cent ;  and,  from 
its  last  return  previous  to  the  removal  of  the  deposits, 
thirty-seven  per  cent.  The  bank  is  justly  responsible 
for  the  whole  amount  of  its  expansion  from  the  lowest 
point  of  contraction  in  1834  ;  for  it  had  made  that  con 
traction  under  the  pretence  that  such  a  diminution  of 
its  business  was  rendered  necessary  by  the  removal  of 
the  deposits  ;  and  the  vacuum  in  the  circulation,  being 
created  under  favorable  exchanges,  was  necessarily 
filled  by  the  notes  of  other  institutions  ;  and  the  sub 
sequent  addition  to  the  currency  was  as  inexcusable  as 
it  was  dangerous.  Such  an  addition  could  not  fail  to 
create  a  most  injurious  excitement  in  banking  and 
trade,  and,  with  a  tithe  of  the  power  whicli  its  friends 
claimed  for  this  bank  over  the  smaller  institutions,  to 
stimulate  them  to  the  utmost  extravagance.  And, 
when  the  time  of  this  expansion  is  considered,  no  fair- 
minded  man  can  doubt  that  it  communicated  the  main 
impulse  to  the  disastrous  excesses  which  followed. 
We  have  thus  seen  this  institution,  which  was 


328  SPEECHES   OF  MR.   TILDEN. 

established  to  "  regulate  "  the  others,  twice,  according 
to  the  statements  of  its  own  presidents,  on  the  very 
verge  of  bankruptcy,  and  a  third  time  extricating 
itself  from  its  embarrassments  by  a  breach  of  trust 
which  would  subject  an  individual  to  a  criminal  punish 
ment  ;  and,  looking  at  its  returns,  we  find  each  of  these 
occasions  preceded  by  an  extension  of  its  business, 
unparalleled  in  any  similar  institution.  We  have  seen 
that,  in  every  great  expansion  of  the  currency  which 
has  occurred  during  the  whole  period  of  its  existence, 
it  increased  its  circulation  in  a  far  larger  ratio  than 
the  expansion  of  the  whole  currency.  And  these  suc 
cessive  expansions,  and  the  revulsions  which  followed 
them  with  short  intervening  seasons  of  quietude,  have 
filled  the  whole  history  of  business  during  that  period. 
The  extraordinary  powers  of  this  bank,  and  its  freedom 
from  competition,  while  organized  on  the  same  prin 
ciples  and  therefore  subject  to  the  same  impulses  as 
other  institutions,  have  only  encouraged  it  to  embark 
on  the  most  hazardous  adventures  to  extend  the  profits 
of  its  business ;  from  which  it  has  been  repeatedly 
extricated  only  by  the  credit  of  the  Government,  or  the 
direct  assistance  of  the  Treasury. 

Such  was  the  manner  in  which  the  United  States 
Bank  " regulated"  the  currency  while  it  was  a  national 
institution.  For  the  benefit  of  those  who  think  the 
loss  of  such  services  the  cause  of  the  recent  commer 
cial  disorders,  and  their  restoration  by  the  establish 
ment  of  a  similar  institution  the  sovereign  panacea,  I 
pursue  its  subsequent  history. 


SPEECHES   OF  MR.   TILDEN.  329 

On  the  20th  February,  1886,  Mr.  Biddle  presented 
a  meeting  of  the  stockholders  with  the  new  charter 
from  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  congratulating  them  on 
the  dissolution  of  their  connection  with  the  General 
Government,  which  he  pronounced  to  be  an  unnatural 
connection,  beneficial  neither  to  "  the  bank  nor  the  Govern 
ment"  and  declaring  that  "  the  bank  was  now  SAFER, 
STRONGER,  and  more  prosperous  than  it  ever  was." 

On  the  llth  November,  1836,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Adams, 
Mr.  Biddle  declared  that  the  revulsion,  which  had  then 
become  severe,  was  owing  to  the  "  mere  mismanage 
ment  "  of  the  Government ;  denied  "  that  the  country 
has  over-traded,  that  the  banks  have  over-issued,  and 
that  the  purchasers  of  public  lands  have  been  very 
extravagant;"  and  concluded  his  long  argument  to 
sustain  these  positions  thus  triumphantly  :  "  Exchange 
with  all  the  world  is  in  favor  of  New  York  :  how,  then, 
can  New  York  be  an  over-trader  ?  Her  merchants  have 
sold  goods  to  the  merchants  of  the  interior,  who  are 
willing  to  pay,  and,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  able 
to  pay;  but  by  the  mere  fault  of  the  Government,  as 
obvious  as  if  an  earthquake  had  swallowed  them  up, 
their  debtors  are  disabled  from  making  immediate  pay 
ment.  IT  IS  NOT  THAT  THE  ATLANTIC  MERCHANTS 
HAVE  SOLD  TOO  MANY  GOODS,  but  that  tJie  Government 
prevents  their  receiving  pay  for  any" 

And  this  in  the  face  of  sales  of  public  lands  during 
that  year,  to  the  amount  of  twenty-four  millions  of 
dollars,  and  an  excess  of  imports  over  exports  of  sixty- 


330  SPEECHES   OF   MR.   TILDEN. 

one  millions  !  But  even  this  great  financier,  who  was 
competent  of  himself  to  regulate  all  the  business  of  the 
country,  could  at  last  be  made  to  learn  what  every  man 
of  common-sense  had  known  long  before. 

On  the  13th  May,  1837,  two  days  after  his  bank  had 
suspended,  in  a  second  letter  to  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Biddle 
said :  "  We  owe  a  debt  to  foreigners  by  no  means  large 
for  our  resources,  but  disproportioned  to  our  present 
means  of  payment.  We  have  worn  and  eaten  and  drunk 
the  produce  of  their  industry,  —  too  much  of  all,  perhaps  ; 
but  that  is  our  fault,  not  theirs.''9  No  doubt.  But  when 
had  we  done  so  ?  Even  Mr.  Biddle  would  not  say  that 
it  was  after  the  writing  of  his  previous  letter. 

He  also  said  that,  "  had  the  bank  consulted  merely 
its  own  strength,  it  would  have  continued  its  payments 
without  reserve."  Certainly.  He  suspended  for  the 
sake  of  the  other  banks,  just  as  he  made  his  night-jour 
ney  in  1825,  and  his  fraudulent  arrangement  as  to  the 
three  per  cents  in  1832,  for  their  sake.  These  facts  all 
rest  upon  the  same  testimony.  He  promised  also  to 
"  take  the  lead  in  an  early  resumption  of  specie  pay 
ments." 

In  the  fall  of  1837,  when  a  convention  was  proposed 
to  bring  about  a  general  resumption,  the  United  States 
Bank  at  first  refused  to  join  in  it;  and  afterwards  sent 
delegates,  who  opposed  resumption,  and  succeeded  in 
voting  down  the  measure  through  its  associates  and 
dependants.  And  when  the  New  York  banks  were 
about  to  resume  alone,  on  the  5th  of  April,  1838,  in  a 


SPEECHES   OF  MR.   TILDEN.  331 

third  letter  to  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Biddle  argued  at  great 
length  that  the  resumption  then  was  "  premature," 
threatened  them  in  an  insolent  tone  with  the  conse 
quences  of  the  attempt,  and  told  them  to  appeal  to  the 
legislature  "  to  rectify  their  mistake,"  and  legalize  a 
further  suspension.  The  New  York  banks  resumed 
about  the  1st  of  May;  but  the  United  States  Bank 
remained  suspended  until  the  latter  part  of  the  year, 
when  it  nominally  resumed  by  substituting  post-notes 
for  its  ordinary  circulation  ;  or,  in  other  words,  notes 
bearing  on  their  face  a  promise  of  payment  a  year  after 
date,  for  notes  bearing  on  their  face  a  promise  of  pay 
ment  on  demand. 

In  the  spring  of  1839,  Mr.  Biddle  resigned  the  presi 
dency  of  the  bank,  announcing,  that  having  brought  it 
safely  through  all  the  difficulties,  and  leaving  it  in  a 
sound  and  prosperous  condition,  he  could  now  retire 
from  its  management.  Through  the  summer,  it  strug 
gled  with  the  embarrassments  daily  thickening  upon  it ; 
and  in  October  it  failed,  inflicting  upon  the  commercial 
affairs  of  the  country  the  extensive  mischief  under 
which  they  have  been  suffering  for  the  year  past,  but 
from  which,  thanks  to  the  beneficent  regulation  of  the 
laws  of  trade,  they  are  now  rapidly  recovering. 

FROM    SPEECH   OF   HON.   SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN    AT   CHAT 
HAM,   N.Y.,    ON  THURSDAY,   SEPT.   24,  1868. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  it  is  with  a  high 
pleasure,  not  untinged  with  something  of  sadness,  that, 


332  SPEECHES   OF  ME.   TILDEN. 

after  a  long  interval,  I  stand  once  more  among  the 
assembled  Democracy  of  the  county  of  Columbia. 
I  feel  like  a  man  revisiting  the  spot  where  cluster 
the  dear  and  tender  associations  of  home,  and  looking 
about  him  to  see  his  friends  and  his  kindred.  It 
was  here,  in  one  of  the  loveliest  of  your  beautiful 
valleys,  that  my  eyes  first  opened  upon  the  light 
of  heaven;  and  here,  after  a  period  of  many  years 
of  various  experiences,  come  back  upon  my  heart  all 
those  interesting  and  never-to-be-forgotten  associations 
which  belong  to  our  youth.  I  am  here  to-day  in 
response  to  the  appeal  of  my  young  friend  [Mr.  E.  JL. 
Gaul] ,  himself  a  son  of  my  long-esteemed  friend, 
that  you  had  a  right  to  claim  my  obedience  to  your 
call.  I  recognize  your  Chairman  [Mr.  Van  Schaack], 
a  friend  of  my  boyhood,  whom  I  am  glad  to  meet  here, 
though  I  can  scarcely  do  it  without  emotions  that  over 
whelm  me.  It  was  here  that  I  first  learned  to  take  an 
interest  in  the  great  concerns  of  our  common  country  ; 
and  was  taught,  in  precept  and  example,  —  by  him  to 
whom  I  owed  my  existence,  and  largely  whatever 
endowments  of  intellect  I  possess,  —  that  it  is  the  first 
of  social  duties  for  a  citizen  of  a  republic  to  take  his 
fair  allotment  of  care  and  trouble  in  all  public  affairs. 
It  was  amid  these  scenes  that  I  formed  an  acquaintance, 
at  the  house  of  my  father,  with  the  great  statesmen  of 
the  Jacksonian  era,  who  did  so  much,  so  wisely  and  so 
well,  for  our  country,  in  their  day  and  generation.  At 
his  house  I  met  Martin  Van  Bur  en,  Silas  Wright, 


SPEECHES   OF   MR.    TILDEN.  333 

William  L.  Marcy,  Azariah  C.  Flagg,  and  many  others 
whose  names  are  familiar  to  you  all.  I  also  saw  in  his 
society  Edward  Livingston,  an  ornament  of  this  coun 
ty,  in  which  he  was  born,  as  was  also  his  great  brother 
Chancellor  Livingston  ;  and  I  saw  here  also  Albert 
Gallatin,  who,  although  of  foreign  birth,  was  an  Ameri 
can  in  all  his  ideas  and  tastes.  Gentlemen,  I  have 
come  back  among  you  to-day  to  plead  for  those  institu 
tions  which  here  in  my  childhood  I  learned  to  revere, 
—  which  are  the  great  traditions  of  American  free  gov 
ernment,  and  which  I  fondly  hoped  in  my  early  years 
would  prevail  everywhere  upon  this  continent,  and 
secure  prosperity  and  happiness  to  our  people  evermore. 
These  are  times  that  give  concern  to  us  all.  They  are 
times  that  create  anxiety  and  disquietude  as  to  the 
future  of  our  country  ;  and  it  is  because,  when  most  of 
the  illusions  of  life  are  past,  my  mind  still  clings  to  that 
illusion,  if  it  be  (I  would  fondly  believe  that  it  is  no 
illusion),  of  the  greatness  and  glory  of  my  country  as 
the  home  of  a  prosperous  and  happy  people,  and  as 
the  promised  land  of  the  toiling  millions,  that  I  have 
come  again  among  you  to  present  to  you  the  views 
which  I  entertained  when  I  left  you,  and  which  I  still 
cherish,  as  to  what  are  our  duties  in  respect  to  the 
public  affairs  of  our  country.  I  am  glad  to  see  that  so 
many  of  you  have  gathered  on  this  occasion.  I  am 
glad  to  be  informed  that  in  this  audience  there  are  so 
many  farmers.  It  was  among  the  farmers  in  Columbia 
that  I  took  my  first  lessons  in  politics.  It  was  in  the 


334  CONCLUSION. 

simple  habits,  moderate  tastes,  and  honest  purposes  of 
the  rural  community,  that  I  was  accustomed  in  my 
youth —  and  I  have  not  got  over  that  habit  —  to  trust 
for  the  welfare  of  our  country.  I  am  glad  once  more 
to  address  an  audience  composed  of  farmers.  It  is 
from  these  populations  that  we  must  largely  hope  for 
whatever  of  future  is  reserved  to  our  country  ;  and  I 
am  rejoiced  that  I  have  to-day  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
so  imposing  a  representation  of  them. 

CONCLUSION. 

I  have  now  given  the  record  of  Messrs.  Tilden  and 
Hendricks,  the  candidates  of  the  Democracy  for  the 
offices  of  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States.  I  followed  out  the  record  of  both  these  gen 
tlemen  as  sketched  by  others,  and  also,  in  part,  by 
themselves.  That  they  are  men  of  education  and 
talent  must  be  conceded  by  all.  That  they  are  of  some 
account  in  the  States  in  which  they  severally  reside 
seems  to  be  evident  from  the  fact  that  each  of  them  is 
now  Governor  of  one  of  these  States,  which  by  no 
means  are  small  among  our  "tribes"  of  States.  That 
each  of  them  has  held  other  offices  of  trust  and  high 
responsibility  is  also  true ;  and,  further,  that  they  have 
filled  these  offices  with  fidelity  to  the  public  and  credit 
to  themselves,  no  man  saith  to  the  contrary. 

Now,  I  have  given,  also,  the  opinions  of  some  of  our 
most  prominent  men  of  them  ;  and  more  especially  of 
him  who  is  nominated  for  the  first  place  in  the  gift  of 


CONCLUSION.  335 

this  great  nation,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  George 
Ticknor  Curtis,  Parke  Godwin,  and  others. 

Of  the  religious  proclivities  of  these  candidates  I 
have  had  no  personal  knowledge ;  and,  as  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States  does  not  specify  that  the 
President  and  Vice-President  must  be  either  Methodists, 
Baptists,  Presbyterians,  Episcopalians,  or  something  else, 
I  have  not  felt  called  upon  to  enter  into  any  minute 
inquiry  as  to  their  religious  creeds.  I  may,  however, 
close  with  the  following  quotation  from  a  New  York 
Presbyterian  journal,  — 

"  Some  of  our  Methodist  contemporaries  are  making 
more  than  is  meet  of  Gov.  Hayes's  relation  —  by  the 
membership  of  his  wife  —  to  their  church.  Perhaps 
they  see  in  it  a  continuation  of  sundry  consulships  and 
other  special  favors,  touching  which  they  have  not  been 
too  engaged  about  the  Master's  business  to  make  known 
their  wishes  and  claims.  Gov.  Hayes  is  rather  of 
Presbyterian  than  of  Methodist  antecedents.  His 
mother  was  at  the  time  of  her  death  a  member  of  the 
"Westminster  Presbyterian  Church,  of  Columbus,  O. 
We  may  add,  while  on  the  subject,  that  our  respected 
townsman,  Gov.  Tilden,  is  an  exemplary  attendant 
upon  the  services  of  the  Madison  Square  Presbyterian 
Church,  when  at  his  home  in  New  York ;  and  what  is 
more,  he  is  fairly  well  seasoned  against  the  perverted 
wiles  which  have  led  his  opponent  astray.  Reverting 
to  the  4  next  in  rank,'  we  are  told  that  Gov.  Hen- 
dricks,  of  Indiana,  is  the  son  of  a  Presbyterian  elder; 


336  CONCLUSION. 

but  there  is  a  woman  in  the  case  again,  and  she  has  led 
him  into  the  Episcopal  Church.  The  Hon.  William  A, 
Wheeler,  however,  is  a  worthy  elder  of  the  Presbyte 
rian  Church  of  Malone,  N.Y.  He  stands  firm ;  and  it; 
thus  falls  out,  that  he  and  Gov.  Tilden  are  about  right 
as  to  their  ecclesiastical  relations;  while  the  other  two 
baptized  children  of  our  church  have  been  beguiled, 
as  was  their  father  Adam  years  ago." 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  Gov.  Tilden,  not  beinp- 
specially  under  the  influence  of  any  one  of  EveY 
daughters,  should  he  be  elected  President,  may  be  ex 
pected  to  stand  firmly  against  temptation. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


WMi 


Lt) 


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JAN     51S6S87 


REC'D 


DEC  13  '65  - 


AM 


L.OAN  DEFT. 


General  Library 


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